Conca (France) (AFP)

The ultra-trail champion Xavier Thévenard completed the legendary GR 20 trail in Conca (southern Corsica) on Tuesday in 32 hours and 32 minutes, missing the 180 km crossing record (for 14,000 m of elevation gain) established in June 2016 in 31:06 min.

The triple winner of the Ultra-Trail-du-Mont-Blanc (UTMB) signed the 4th performance, after that of François D'haene (31:06), of Corsica Guillaume Peretti in July 2014 (32:00) and from the Spaniard Kilian Jornet in June 2009 (32:54).

"Today (Tuesday), I + shit +, there are technical parts, it was not human. The last fifteen kilometers, it was a way of the cross, I never knew that. C is a project that you do only once in your life, I will never do this trail again, that's for sure ", breathed Thévenard, marked features and tears still in his eyes, after being acclaimed by a hundred people on arrival.

"I would never have been able to finish a project like this without having been pushed by all these people. I would have Corsica in my heart until the end of my days," he continued.

The 32-year-old Jurassian, licensed in a trail club in Corsica where his parents live, was accompanied throughout his attempt by thirty official pacers (a kind of hare) for most Corsican but also by very many runners anonymous.

At the various refreshment points, dozens of people, including at night, were waiting to encourage him.

Leaving Monday at 4:00 a.m. from Calenzana (Haute-Corse), he joined Conca, in the south of the island, at 12:32 p.m. via a dozen compulsory crossing points for performance certification.

Launched at high speed from the start, it first had to negotiate a large, very technical part (around 80 km) made essentially of stones. At the Capanelle crossing point (96th km), he appeared exhausted at the start of the night. He then managed to get back on track properly before suffering the martyrdom at the very end of the course.

The GR 20 is one of the most famous long-distance trails (GR) in Europe (out of 343 GR listed in France). Some 20,000 hikers venture there each year for a 16-day long crossing for the average walker.

© 2020 AFP