- At 43, David Briand has already accomplished many extreme challenges, such as swimming for 48 hours non-stop at the L'Arbresle swimming pool (Rhône) three years ago.
- The Lyon trail runner has since suffered a spinal cord compression and fractured three cervical vertebrae after a road accident in October 2018.
- 16 months later, here he is in contention Friday (3.30 p.m.) to try to go after one of the toughest races in the world in Bath (England), with 320 km to cover in less than 55 hours in a tunnel.
We believed all ultra-traileurs carried in their challenges by their love of the mountain and the great outdoors. But that was before meeting the Lyonnais David Briand. "He is completely crazy," smiles his friend Yoann Stuck, who was able to train with him in the Monts d'Or. His performances are almost more mental than athletic. We're talking about a guy who loves to swim against the current in a river for two hours. "
We tell you tomorrow on @ 20Minutes the crazy story of the Lyon ultra-traileur David Briand, who will try to become Friday the 2nd finisher of #TunnelUltra in Bath, with 320 km to go, entirely in a tunnel, and this less 55h. #ultratrail #trail #running pic.twitter.com/oD6uaI4gNN
- Jérémy Laugier (@JeremyLaugier) March 4, 2020But also of a runner belonging to the thirty dingoes selected by the organization of the Ultra Tunnel in Bath (England). At 3:30 p.m. Friday, David Briand will try to cover 200 miles, or 321 km, only in a 1.6 km long tunnel, all in maximum 55 hours. A test considered from its first edition last year, as the hardest possible race in the world (only one finisher in 2019), in the same way as the Barkley in the United States or the Charterhouse Terminorum for its Isère version.
"For me to crack mentally, you have to go ..."
Even Stephen King hadn't thought of such a creepy setting for his Marche or Crève as this dismal tunnel transformed into a ballet of headlamps. For the past five months, David Briand has therefore chained four big sessions of 42, 50, 100 and 126 km in the soft modes tube of the Croix-Rousse in Lyon, which is almost the same length as that of Bath.
“After 16 hours of racing, I cracked in the face during the last 20 terminals. I really understood how harder this challenge was than an ultra-trail: it's monotonous, nil and inhuman. But for me to crack mentally, you have to go… ”, summarizes the interested party, sponsored for eight years. Accustomed to 24-hour races, but also finisher of the Marathon des Sables (240 km in Morocco) in 2012, and two 600 km races in six days at the Luc circuit (Var) in 2013 and in Pantano (Italy) in 2014 , this former triathlete, a passion born in adolescence, is not his first extreme challenge.
Between total darkness, strident music and a ban on sleeping
"I felt that I was made for these disciplines, where you must above all keep in mind, with less specific training necessary than to prepare for a marathon," he says. There, when I saw a report on this race in England, I directly said to myself "what a stupid race, it is for me, this one". The only Frenchman who participated in this first Ultra Tunnel in March 2019, and clearly in the lead for more than 200 km before giving up, Guillaume Arthus describes the hell of Bath.
The goal is to go and get hurt. Even in the middle of the day, we are in total darkness, there is a shrill music in the background which is part of the tunnel, it is forbidden to sleep and have assistance. It is a bizarre but unique experience, a world apart, timeless. You have to be good in your head when you arrive because we are at the limit of what the human body can bear. Mine stopped completely after 27 hours of racing, I got cold and I mismanaged my diet. I even saw faces on the walls. "
4.200 crawl lengths chained in two days
Until then, David Briand's wildest bet had taken place in June 2017, with 48 hours of non-stop swimming at the L'Arbresle swimming pool (Rhône). 4,200 lengths in crawl and 105 km traveled later, he had not sought to formalize a possible world record. "I only realize challenges for myself," he insists. I search for the beyond mentally, I like to go where others do not go. During the 48 hours of swimming, I sometimes had hallucinations when I saw earthworms in the water. But taking ten minutes of nap from time to time was enough for me. I felt like I was trying something barge, but once launched, I become a robot. I can't seem to find my limits, and I know I could have swimming a lot more that day. "
Everything could have changed on October 2, 2018 for this trainer in the Gifrer Barbezat laboratory in Décines (Rhône). That day, he fell asleep at the wheel in the early morning after completing a 70 km nighttime trail training around Lake Bourget (Savoie) alongside his triathlete friend Cyril Blanchard, record holder of the Enduroman. "After several barrels at 130 km / h, it was a miracle to get out alive, and even more not paralyzed for life," says David Briand, victim in shock of compression of the spinal cord and fractures of three vertebrae.
Almost a year ahead of doctors' recommendations
Operated the same day, with plates and screws placed in the neck, the 43-year-old athlete had to live for three months with a corset. “When I was told that I might be quadriplegic, I immediately told my parents that it was not that bad, that I would do anything to go to the world disabled championships. Doctors later revealed to him that he could resume running in January 2020. But two months after his operation, the Lyonnais had already walked 20 km at Mont Verdun despite his corset and the snow. Then in May 2019, during the 24 hours of Insa in Villeurbanne, he ran 140 km ...
“The accident left its mark: as I still have my plates and my screws, I fear too much a fall to register on a mountain trail. But at the same time, it boosted my taste for extreme challenges. So that to prepare the Ultra Tunnel, David Briand found nothing better than to succeed a new challenge last Saturday at the French championship of swimming in ice water, in a mountain lake in Samoëns (Haute-Savoie) .
A race in water at 4 ° C to prepare for the challenge of Bath
"It's an event that attracts frosty people," smiles David Briand. I registered on the 50 m so as not to fall into hypothermia, since combinations are obviously prohibited in this water at 4 ° C. »We come back to Yoann Stuck's chambering concerning the improbable aquatic sessions of the forecastle.
“For five years, my training in the Ain river, in Priay, has been very useful for my mind. When we manage to fight by doing two hours of swimming on the spot, with fishermen who hallucinate next door, we are capable of quite a few things. »Including seeing the end of the most formidable British tunnel.
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