- After having run 164 km in his garden collected 2.940 euros for the Breath Foundation and research on the Covid-19, Grégory Herlez wants to complete his Grand tour of the Arcachon basin, this July 1st.
- The runner and blogger will leave for 3.2 km of swimming without fins from the Bélisaire pier (Cap-Ferret) to join that of Moulleau, in Arcachon. He will then continue with 73 km of running to return to the starting point. A first.
- He will be encouraged by his family members but, above all, followed throughout his challenge by a lifeguard, then a vehicle carrying water and ravito.
It's a first. The Arcachon basin has already been crossed by swimming, but never without fins, never followed by a running race and never by Grégory Herlez. The well-known runner and blogger of the Girondins has launched a new challenge: to complete the Grand tour of the Arcachon basin. After running an ultra-trail of 164 km in his garden during confinement (and collected in passing 2,940 euros for research on the Covid-19), the sports coach will swim 3.2 km in the cold and rough water of the basin and run more than 73 km through the pine forest and the pretty villages of the sea triangle, inland.
“I had to do a 170 km in the Pyrenees, but the race was canceled. Like all summer ones. So I said to myself “why not make your own challenge” in order to also have a post-containment sports objective, ”says a Grégory Herlez in need of thrills.
"It would be silly for me to take a plate"
The man says he is a bit rusty by the parenthesis coronavirus. This Wednesday morning, at 10 am, he returned from having already swam more than 1 km and ran ten others. "Swimming is not my specialty. I have already swum 1.5 km but in the Mediterranean which is calmer. There, it will be less a game of fun, "announces the one who only started training in the wild until the end of May.
A boat will follow Grégory closely, throughout the crossing. On board, his wife and two children for encouragement and a lifeguard for support in case of "drift, fatigue, problem". “I also have a red buoy to be identified among all the boats that cross the basin. It would be silly for me to take a flat, "smiles the sportsman who will have stashed" pads "(palms of hands) in his buoy if" never the current is really too strong ".
Over six hours of running
The purist however wants to avoid all artifices and win the pier of Moulleau by the strength of his arms and legs. “I could have taken the river shuttle for the crossing, but it is not in the spirit of sport, of challenge. And with flippers, this grand tour would no longer be a first, ”says Grégory Herlez, who analyzed currents and elevation differences during his 55 days under the hood.
On land, from Moulleau to Cap-Ferret, the "warrior" accustomed to trails and marathons will be accompanied by Sébastien Cantero. The acolyte met at the Marathon des sables last year will follow Grégory by bike. Camera in hand, story that we can follow the adventure on social networks. Nearby, the family will follow the epic journey by car, ready to draw the flasks of fresh water, bananas or apricots as a ravito.
Read our trail file
Departure is scheduled from the Bélisaire pier (Cap-Ferret) at 7:30 am on July 1. Grégory should join the Moulleau pier (Arcachon) around 9:15 a.m., before riding this Grand Tour at Cap-Ferret, after more than six hours of running.
Sport
Deconfinement: "More stressed by the weather than by the Covid-19" ... How is the trail world preparing for its recovery?
Sport
Coronavirus: Three tips to prepare for your post-containment marathon
- Sport
- Aquitaine
- Arcachon
- Bordeaux
- Video