With tears in her eyes, a broad smile, true to her image, Anne-Lise Rousset passed in small strides the arrival point of the GR 20 in Conca (Corse-du-Sud) at 5:50 p.m. to become the first woman to run under 40 hours, lowering Emilie Lecomte's record by six hours (41 h 22 min in 2012).

Trail runner Anne-Lise Rousset kisses her husband and coach of the French team, Adrien Séguret, on June 13, 2022 at the Col de Vergio, during a break in a relay point during her attempt to beat the women's record for the mythical GR20 in Corsica Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA AFP

Passionate about trail running since 2009 for pure pleasure, this rural veterinarian, mother of a little boy for eleven months, had until now never run more than 100 km.

She crossed Corsica from north to south accompanied only by two "pacers" (hares or pacemakers), as provided for in the new regulations, for two days under a blazing sun, one night looking for her way on narrow rocky and dangerous paths.

The trail runner Anne-Lise Rousset, accompanied by two hares, during her passage through the Vergio pass, on June 13, 2022, pulverized, in 35 hours, the women's record for the mythical GR 20 in Corsica over 170 km and 13,000 m of altitude difference positive Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA AFP

Deprived of sleep, she held on for love of the race, conquered by the technicality of the GR 20, carried by the support of her trainer and husband, Adrien Séguret, and the little hugs of their son Faustin on the relay points of the course.

The trail runner Anne-Lise Rousset, in the company of her son Faustin, listens to her husband and coach of the French team, Adrien Séguret, on June 13, 2022 at the Col de Vergio, during a break in a relay point during his attempt to beat the women's record for the mythical GR20 in Corsica Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA AFP

Rousset is the fourth woman to complete the GR 20 since the first homologation in 1989 and signs the fourth performance in the history of the hiking trail, considered one of the toughest in Europe.

The absolute record has been held since June 2021 by Lambert Santelli in 30 hours.

To eat

"It's difficult to judge the quality of a trail performance," Rousset told AFP before leaving.

"The marathon is not wrong, we have a time, good or not. In trail running, we will sometimes admire a performance that is not necessarily up to the challenge. And there I tell myself that if it works, there is a reference. We know what it represents. It may have some value. It's this side that is nice and seductive."

French trail runner Anne-Lise Rousset poses at her home on June 5, 2022 near Annecy JEFF PACHOUD AFP / Archives

Leaving Monday at 6:00 a.m. from Calenzana (Haute-Corse), the 33-year-old sportswoman, who had made an impression in 2020 with the record for crossing the Aravis (49 km and 6,110 m of elevation gain in 10:35 a.m.) used four pairs of shoes for this new feat and fueled herself.

"I medicalized a lot of trails and on the ultras we see a lot of digestive problems. This is the N.1 problem that makes you abandon a trail. Those who win the ultras are those who continue to drink and eat That's the challenge," said Dr. Stéphane Bergzoll, doctor for the French trail team, to AFP.

Around 1:00 a.m., Rousset showed signs of difficulty, she was beginning to no longer want to eat.

The loss of lucidity began.

At 4:00 a.m., the new tandem of "pacers" convinced him to sleep for five minutes to get her back on her feet.

French trail runner Anne-Lise Rousset trains in the middle of the night around Annecy on June 5, 2022, before setting off from Calenzana on June 13 on the GR20 in Corsica, to try to become the first woman to finish under the 40 hours JEFF PACHOUD AFP/Archives

"Beyond ten hours of effort, physiologically we pass into another metabolism. Those who hold on to high intensity have digestive qualities and resistance to muscle fatigue that others do not have", notes Bergzoll, impressed by the trail runner, "outstanding by her intrinsic, genetic capacities".

Sport and pregnancy

"She has a lot of speed, lightness, she has a foot that I have rarely seen, a footing and a fairly unique rebound. And she is a top athlete, who does endurance sport and who has succeeded in having a child. It is a good example (which shows) that sport and pregnancy are possible", argues the sports doctor.

Anne-Lise Rousset does not want to be "the standard bearer of women's sport" while the trail suffers from the lack of feminine density.

French trail runner and veterinarian Anne-Lise Rousset, with her son Faustin and her husband and coach of the France team, Adrien Séguret, on June 5, 2022 in their house near Annecy JEFF PACHOUD AFP / Archives

"The fact of being on a field where the girls do not necessarily go, it does not have to play. You have to put yourself on an equal footing, we do not have to ask ourselves these kinds of questions. don't pose", she slips.

In October, she will participate for the first time in the Diagonale des Fous in Reunion.

On Friday, another woman, Karen Courcelle, sets off to attack the GR 20.

© 2022 AFP