• Every Thursday, in its “Off-Pitch” section,

    20 Minutes

     explores new, unexpected, unusual, clever or booming spaces for sporting expression.

  • This week, we're looking at the Last Man Standing race, which is inspired by the Backyard.

  • This racing concept is attracting more and more trail runners, always looking for something new.

    Here, it's about completing a loop in less than an hour, until there is only one competitor left.

Time: an omnipresent notion in running.

A discipline where the stopwatch often acts as a referee.

If the notion of surpassing oneself is present, it is even more so in the minds (and legs) of the participants in a very special race: The Last Man Standing.

A name that says it all.

Landed in France three years ago, this Belgian concept is inspired by the Backyard, a race where the world champion, the American Harvey Lewis (45), had completed 85 loops of nearly 7 km last October in Tennessee, or 570 km in 85 hours.

The principle of the Last Man Standing is largely inspired by this.

It is a question of covering a loop of 7.5 km to be repeated every hour.

Until more thirsty.

The 350 runners at the start can complete a maximum of 24 loops, i.e. 180 km, with a total elevation gain of 6,000 m.

Solid!

But no question of ringing the bell after more than an hour.

Any runner who has not crossed the line of a loop after 60 minutes is eliminated.

A real time trial.

The performance is remarkable and requires good self-knowledge.

"Almost the equivalent of a UTMB if you go to the end"

In France, five races are today stamped The Last Man Standing.

This is particularly the case in Orvault, in the Nantes metropolitan area, which will host its first edition on February 26 and 27.

Luc Plançon, who has been running "forever", imported this very special trail to the region, after having tried it out during a first edition in Vendée, three years ago.

"If we go to the end, it's almost the equivalent of the UTMB, says the one who traveled seven loops in 2019. When you're there, you say to yourself: where are my limits?

You ask yourself the question even more after a while, because your legs get tired.

Me, I was really cooked at the end of the sixth loop.

» Know your body, its limits, and above all learn to manage your time, and therefore your effort.

The challenges offered by The Last Man Standing are multiple.

A drop that hurts your legs

Last month, on the banks of the Nantes Sèvre, in Vendée, the winner of this race covered a total of 19 laps, finishing the night event.

Far from this performance, Charles would also have liked to run by the light of his headlamp.

This accustomed to trails of around thirty kilometers ran six laps.

During each of the loops, he and the other trail runners faced 270 m of elevation gain.

A wall for Charles.

"Compared to the distance covered, the drop seemed enormous to me", remembers the Vendéen.

Here, performance is certainly physical, but it also and above all resides in the management of both effort and rest time.

Because after each loop, all the runners leave at the same time.

The recovery time between two laps therefore varies according to each person's stopwatch.

“In the other races, we don't have this 60-minute ax, so it's super complicated to manage,” notes Charles.

Running slower to run longer?

He remembers having finished his sixth and last lap with difficulty: “I was with a guy who finished fifteen laps away and I had the impression that we were going very slowly.

Next time, I think I'll go slower to spend less time in the room between laps.

We feel that the best manage their effort well.

It's a race of endurance, not speed.

»

A race tactic confirmed by the time of the winner of the 2019 edition in Vendée.

“That year, the winner completed sixteen loops with an average of 58 minutes per lap.

You have to know how to allow yourself a little recovery time between the loops, but not too much”, analyzes Patrice Bizon, the organizer of the race.

Resist to remain the Last Man Standing.

A concept that intrigued Erik Clavery.

“A new beginning every time”

Winner of the world trail championship in 2011, he has since chained outstanding performances.

French record holder for 24 hours of running in 2019 but also for crossing the Pyrenees by the GR10 in 2020, the trail runner from Nantes is always looking for a new experience, a new challenge to take up.

History of always pushing its limits a little more.

Next week, he will be present at the start of the Last Man Standing, in Orvault.

“It's a special concept because it's a new start every time.

If we go to the end, it's an ultra-trail to be completed in 24 hours, which is a real perf", explains the one who completed the UTMB in 8th place (23h07 for 170 km and 10,000 m of elevation gain) in 2018. “There is a search for the extreme: we push our limits by always making the loop more.

Personally, I do it for the experience.

It's going to be a great discovery and that's why it appeals to me.

»

Not a "sausage race"

Like the 350 participants who snatched their bibs in a few minutes for the Orvault edition.

An attraction that proves that runners are looking for something new.

“The sausage races have had their day for some.

And when you then see the waiting lists for the UTMB, for example, it gets crazy,” says Luc Plançon.

The big difference with other races also lies in the atmosphere.

“When you do a trail, you don't really see the competitors again, explains the organizer.

There, you find the others every hour.”

A friendly dimension very much appreciated by Charles: “There are also always people to encourage us.

Usually, you have spectators at the start and at the finish, and that's it”.

“We can stop after two laps”

If it is an extreme race for those who aim for the 24 laps, this one is open to everyone.

Despite its name, a race trophy is also awarded to the last woman in the running.

“There is something nice for the companions, who see their foal return to the pit every hour.

And it's not an elitist race, you can stop after two laps”, specifies the organizer of the Vendée edition.

However, going to the end of this challenge requires a hell of a level of resistance.

Our off-road file

So, is The Last Man Standing worth an ultra-trail?

“Hard to say, hesitates Erik Clavery.

The 24 loops are achievable but it all depends on the circumstances.

Mentally, I'm going to rediscover a bit of what I experienced during the 24 hours of running.

We must not look in the globality, but set micro-objectives and live in the present moment.

The trail champion does not fully know where he is stepping, but he arrives with ambitions.

Erik Clavery and all of the 350 registered trail runners face a formidable opponent to remain the Last Man Standing: the stopwatch.

And he is intractable.

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  • Trail

  • Sport

  • Nantes

  • Running

  • off-road

  • ultra trail

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