Paris (AFP)
Race the legendary GR20 in Corsica in 30 hours, run from Chamonix to Briançon in 32 hours or even link the Matterhorn to Mont Blanc in a crazy 50-hour race: ultra-trailers compete with the wildest challenges to overcome the cancellation of competitions.
In a few days, Xavier Thévenard, one of the greatest champions of ultra-trail (extreme endurance race) will leave in search of the GR20 record, 180 km (and 14,000 m of elevation gain) which he intends to achieve in 30 hours. A feat in view of the 16 days that the average hiker needs.
The project, which he had in the back of his mind, matured during the confinement imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And the cancellation of the competitions launched the adventure.
"I don't want a bland life to stay on the couch and wait for things to happen. Every day counts, I want to feel alive and that's why projects like that close to my heart, it makes me vibrate, it gives meaning to my life ", explains Thévenard to AFP.
- 'Something to eat' -
Deprived of the biggest events, in particular the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) which should have taken place at the end of August and which it won three times, the Jurassian takes advantage of this moment of forced break in the competitive calendar for slip a record.
"Sportingly, it can allow us to have something to eat," said his coach Thomas Michaud. "It is very rarely possible this kind of event because there are usually a lot of races and they are athletes paid by brands who want their athletes to be present at races."
"This is really an opportunity because everything is canceled, it is the only possibility for the partners to have visibility but it may be the only project of his life in this direction", continues l 'coach.
Monday morning, the sun still set, Thévenard will set off to cross Corsica in less than 31:06, the record established in June 2016 by another great champion, François D'Haene.
Forty-eight hours earlier, Martin Kern will leave Chamonix (Haute-Savoie) to join Briançon (Hautes-Alpes) with two stooges, Grégoire Curmer and Baptiste Robin, to chase the record time signed in 2011 in 37h51 ... by François D'Haene (also with two team members)!
- Make sense -
Addicted to extreme 'nature' races, Martin Kern says that he set up this challenge during the confinement - 202 km and 12,500 m of cumulative elevation he plans to do in 32 hours.
"It's been in my little papers since I started trail running. With the cancellation of the races, it was a good time. The confinement allowed me to consolidate my ideas of changing our way of life. all thought of a different way of living so as not to relive that. It’s thinking of projects next to the house, less bothering with journeys to the other side of the world ", notes the one who lives in the Ecrins .
Also in search of adrenaline with the cancellation of the UTMB and the Hard Rock 100 miles (ultra race in July in Colorado), D'Haene offers himself a challenge in the form of "Great solidarity crossing", a race relay of nearly 1,000 km from Alsace to the Côte d'Azur, whose start must be given on Sunday.
A few days later, a duo of trailers, Germain Grangier and Katie Schide, will play with the mountain by attempting an original route, which combines racing and mountaineering.
"We quickly put an end to the UTMB, all our objectives were canceled. We wondered a little, vis-à-vis our partners. We understood that they were also suffering with the current situation We are also fond of challenges, there it made even more sense to make one. We said to ourselves why not to connect Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. Linking Zermatt (Switzerland) to Chamonix is done but adding the two summits it never happened, "notes Germain Grangier.
The two runners, who had each finished in the Top 10 of the UTMB in 2019, plan to put between 50 and 60 hours for their atypical crossing of 160 km and 15,000 m of elevation gain, with roped crossings.
© 2020 AFP