Running Fence Run -
Patriot Day 9.11.2026

Christo's life's work was an arc of triumph.  After escaping from the Soviet bloc, he settled in Paris.  In 1961, one of his earliest and most audacious art proposals was to wrap the Arc de Triomphe, a monument to Napoléon's military victories.  The wrapping project was approved before Christo's death in 2020 and was installed in 2021.

Photograph: 2019 Estate of Christo Javacheff

Cotati California has one of the few hub and spoke city layouts in the United States, like our nation's capitol, Washington, D.C.).  A wrapped Arc de Triomphe will be wrapped creating the Finish line for the Running Fence runners. Made of scaffolding, the frame of the Arc de Triomphe will be scaled to fit Cotati's boulevards.

Christo's Running Fence began south of Cotati, ran north of the hamlet of Liberty, followed the American Creek to Valley Ford and dropped into the Pacific Ocean south of Estero Americano.

Christo created drawings and art pieces to finance the team's art installations; his wife and partner Jeanne-Claude was president of the Running Fence Corporation and handled most of the logistics, art sales, and project budgeting. As a team they charmed and persuaded 59 ranchers and dairymen to agree to lease the private land needed for the project. 

A Panel Discussion celebrating the 50th anniversary of the start of the project was held in 2022 at Tomales Regional History Center.

Christo ran his fence on private land.  The Running Fence will be run on public land belonging to the people- county and city roads and part of California Highway 1.  The marathon will run from the Pacific coast to a wrapped Arc de Triomphe in the Cotati City Hub. A 24.5 starting line at Estero Americano will be set in honor of the original Marathon distance.  A 26.2 starting line at Tomales Bay will be available for runners to adhere to the modern Olympic length.*

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The 10K Run will begin at Liberty Elementary School and finish at the wrapped Arc de Triomphe.

*  In 1908, the 26.2 marathon distance was set for the Olympic race starting at Windsor Castle and finishing in front of the British Royal viewing box in London's Olympic Stadium.

The Boston Marathon is run on Patriots' Day in April. The first Boston Marathon was 24.5 miles long in honor of the original run from the Battle of Marathon to Athens. The 1897 race featured militiamen riding alongside the runners. Illustration from the Boston Globe, 1897.

Philippides' original 24.5 mile run from the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. prepared the Athenian Assembly for Persian raiders rapidly approaching by sea, and to hold out for reinforcements coming from the victorious Athenian army. Athen's fledgling democracy resisted the Persians and eventually inspiring the American freedom fighters at Lexington and Concord.

Patriots Day in September coincides with Christo's Running Fence installation, and is a memorial to those killed in the terrorist attacks on 9/11. 

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The Running Fence Project was subject to bomb threats, death threats, and vandalism in what Newsweek called "Aesthetic Terrorism."

Christo's Running Fence pitted the rights of ranchers and land owners' against public concerns of "visual pollution," traffic, and environmental damage.  Christo began his project in 1972 and faced many setbacks delaying the installation to 1976.