Paris Marathon Medical Certificate

I entered the Paris marathon, then went to my GP for the obligatory medical certificate. Problem is, he says that to sign me off as fit to race, he'll have to give me a full medical exam at a price of £110! This is more than twice the price of the entry fee. I'm sure he doesn't need to do a full examination but my GP is insisting he test my lung function, joints, heart etc. and that's an hour of his time (private rates) before he can give me the certificate. 

I can't really pay this and am really disappointed because I so want to run Paris. Has anyone else found that their doctor charges this much? 

Please advise if you can. 



  • It's pretty sad that you can go to your doctor and get treated for free if you've smoked 60 a day and have lung cancer, or are moribildly obese and get subsidised gym membership, but if you are exercising then you get charged a fortune. It's not exactly going to encourage anyone to be healthy is it?

    Anyway, I'm certain that any foreign marathon organiser will never check to see if your certification is genuine and they only do it because they have to. Just fill your own form in and sign it like many people do, including me.

    Good luck with Paris!
  • thanks porl. Yes, i never thought of that. So unfair!

    Where did you get your form? 

  • Daisy you download the form from the Paris

    just click on "download medical certificate"

  • I'm doing Rome marathon, and they have a form to download to be filled in by your "doctor". Does Paris not give you something similar? If they don't you could use the Rome one as a template:
  • If you've got a friend who's a phd then its not really cheating......image
  • tbh if they'd had that form up a few weeks back I would have forged mine rather than fork out 15 quid.
  • Brilliant! I have the form now, thank you for the link Mr Puffy and porl. Yes, I think I can forge this one! I mean, I think I know better than I GP I see once in a blue moon whether I'm capable of running Paris. I really pleased, you don't know how disappointed I was when I thought I'd have to pay over a hundred quid for this!

    Paris and sub 4 hours here we come!

    thank you for your help


  • enjoy Paris, I've done it, it's a fantastic experience.

    I also -ahem - saved my GP the time and bother of signing on the dotted line! For Paris and Rome, it's just so that you can't sue them if you suffer any related health problems from doing the marathon.

    Good luck

  • Paris here I come! YAY! image sub 4 hours?
  • maybe DD - just maybe. It's my marathon pb so far. The start is a gentle downhill all the way down the Champs Elysses, then it's virtually flat apart from when you are coming out of the tunnels. The worst bit is on the last 3-4 k where there are lots of twists and turns.

    There is good crowd support, and when I did it in 2006 the men outnumbered the women by something like 4:1, me being of a certain age and a woman got lots of Bravo Madame's on my way around image

  • Hail Hail

    Coops once forged his own med cert for Paris and signed it as Dr A. N. D. Themedics.  The boy really does have class.

  • Just one question do you get past the doctors stamp that is required to be on the form?
  • Oops, beaten to it - was going to ask about the stamp too.

  • Hail Hail

    porl - its basically that a full medical is not covered by the NHS, hence the price.  A GP is after all a professional person.  You wouldnt expect a lawyer to do you an equivalent job/letter but not charge you.  However, a freindly GP should be able to do you a covering letter for a minimal amount or for free.  TBH, a full medical is not really neccessary.

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    My GP just took my blood pressure, weighed me, and wrote a short note.

    £20 please! Ker-ching!

    I've been copying it ever since, putting a new date in.

    I don't suppose they'll reject your form for not having a stamp on it - the number of people who forge them, there must be hundreds without stamps.

  • Well, I looked into the costs that the italians pay and it was something like 30 euro for a 12-lead ecg at rest then after exercise, plus some lung function test, blood pressure etc. That's an annual obligatory test for anyone who participates in any sporting event. So 100 quid for far less is ridiculous.

    As for the stamp, at the bottom of the Paris page it says " Signature/Stamp", so it sounds like a signature is sufficient. Put some important looking letters under the doctor's name, like FRFFD (fellow of the royal federation of fake doctors)
  • Our GP charges a considerable amount for signing off on passport docs and openly admits that half of the peeps he's signed for he doesn't recognise, because although they mught be his patients, they've not darkened his door for years....image

    Surely most people know someone else who could do this for them? Teachers / Vicars etc?

    Or do I just know too many vicars and teachers?image

    There is no way I would want to pay over £100 for a medical. I realise the doc is a professional, but to be forced to pay a private fee to run a race is just too much.

  • I don't know why athletics don't do what the triathlon federations do - if you're a member of a national triathlon federation, you can race in France under that licence without the need for a medical certificate. the assumption is that if you're fit to race at home, you're fit to race in another country. most the forumites who did Ironman France last year bypassed the certification by paying £42 to join the BTF - which also gives race insurance and accident cover....

    so, why don't the relevant athletics organisations do this?? so if you're a UK club member and UKAA registered, this should allow you to race in another country - just makes logical sense than pfaffing with med certs, forged or not

    but maybe the difference is that you need to register at triathlon races so they can check documents if needed - for many road races registration isn't needed
  • It seems to vary so wildly.  I was reasonably lucky (though was panic stricken at the time!), I basically explained the situation the the receptionist, who passed on the form for the doc to sign.  I then got hubby to collect it a few days later.  They did charge £13 for what was basically a signature, but it could have been a lot worse, so I was quite happy.

    I think it very much depends on the doctors descretion.

  • FB - That's a bloody good idea....
  • Rome marathon says this:

    "Athletes who are members of foreign Federations affiliated with IAAF or IPC must provide a copy of their membership card at the time of registration.

    Athletes who are not members of foreign Federations affiliated with IAAF or IPC must fill out the sport medical certificate"

    I'm not a member of anything, but does running club membership give you IAAF/IPC affiliation?
  • cost for medical will depend entirely on your Doctors discretion and interpretation of the medico-legal requirements + implications of the certificate. + additionally how well you know your doctor

     rates vary between surgeries- (as would be illegal + anti-competitive etc to fix prices)

    ballpark figures would be

    £15 for quick certficate

    £30 for medial certificate for a known patient

    £90+ for full medical + certification

    if you don't see your GP regularly and you are asking them to certify that they accept responsibilty for your health during the event (which is the wording on the rome form) many will charge for a full medical,

    if the worst happens and you require hospital admission or repatriation with a forged medical certificate any travel insurance would be in-valid + you may be liable for a hefty bill,

    believe me i have seen it happen 

  • porl - most club members will have a recently issued England Athetics (or relevant other home nation) competition licence issued under UK Athletics rules. UKA is affilitaed with the IAAF so for Rome you should be covered......
  • Interesting to think that prices vary, in the hope of encouraging some healthy competition! I can just imagine going into a ranodm surgery and asking for a medical, because this particular doc will do it for a fiver and mine charges millions. How would cheapo doc ever get his work done?

    And I can't imagine them saying "yes, do come in" anyway....

    I reckon you're probably stuck with whatever your own particular doc decides to charge you....

    Or do some people REALLY shop around?

  • Cheers FB, I'll bear that in mind for next time as I've already sent my forged certificate off. Luckily I don't bother with travel insurance for Europe, so no need to worry about it getting cancelled.
  • As for stamps, I've discovered there's plenty of websites where you can buy stamps,  and customise them to say whatever you like... not that i'm suggesting anything! gasp! image

    And it is all a nonsense really isn't it folks? Here we are, getting up at the crack of dawn to run and keep body and soul ticking over and we get penalised for this, whilst  the NHS pays out BILLIONS in our taxes to treat for free those who smoke and eat themselves sick in an attempt to make them better again. Something very wrong......  

  • You might find that your doctor would rather you forged the certificate and you took the consequences if something untoward happened.

    Having a genuine certificate might actually give your doctor some explaining to do. In worst case scenario serious disablement or death a person or family might go to law as financial security would be paramount. In fact your insurance company and/or pension scheme might insist it goes to law. Your doctor would want to show he had good reason to sign the certificate.

    I can however accept what many say about charges. However your doctor needs to account to his surgery practice/NHS for his time. He will not earn a living signing these certificates because the NHS will not pay him to do so. What would you think of your doctor if he falsified his records when giving you a free certificate so he would get paid. If he signs these for free what about other people that need certificates for all sorts of purposes such as work and insurance reasons.  

    Find a GP that is interested in sport, many are. Such a GP is likely to be sympathetic with your various injuries, appreciate you and your family's efforts to stay healthy and be familiar with the terms of his/her professional medical protection.  

  • Whilst inurance is being mentioned it's probably well worth signing up for the free European Health Insurance Card for those who haven't already:

  • Got mine today after a short examination and some questions, free of charge, a very pleasant and unexpected surprise!


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