French guy here! The "Marathon pour Tous" is just an influencer party... 20 024 bibs were given for the marathon and 20 024 for a 10K, both taking place the evening after the men's race. Starting at 9PM with many people never having run a marathon (or barely run at all), it will be a disaster. Many bibs were distributed by partners such as Orange (biggest French ISP) through "Team Orange Running" : they were given to famous people or influencers. There also were draws when completing "challenges" (run 20K during the month...) or by getting a large number of points on an app (you got by running, biking). The latest was presented as the main way to get a bib, and was the only which needed a serious dedication for the basic hobbyjogger.
However, only 10% of bibs got distributed through this draw. Many serious French runners gave up about this "Marathon pour tous" quite early: in 2021 there was a "Race against Kipchoge" which was disastrous: https://www.ouest-france.fr/sport/running/marathon/paris-2024-aucun-esprit-olympique-la-course-contre-eliud-kipchoge-suscite-la-polemique-6483afb8-3adc-11ec-907b-a42f9254617d
Runners were divided into sections according to their announced 5km level. The slowest went first, followed by the fastest. Finally, Kipchoge set off at a pace of 14'10 and those who arrived ahead of him won a race bib. However, on the day, it was forbidden to overtake the pace setter in the group. The 25+ minute runners were able to start very early, and the “fastest” group (under 18 minutes) was dropped a few seconds before Kipchoge. None of the runners in the fast section were able to qualify... But all the “slow” ones did. The organization backtracked and qualified the fastest runners in each group, but from that moment on we knew it was rotten.
A lot of people advertise “running the marathon of the Olympics”, when it's really just a leisure race. For a long time, it was planned that the race would not even be timed!
