40 years is quite a milestone in the life of a man. For 2020 I wanted something extraordinary, a race I secretly marked on my wish list a long time ago, the TOR des Géants; a 330km ultra endurance mountain race with more than 24,000m elevation gain around the Aosta Valley in Italy. After the cancellation of the 2020 edition, I decided to plan my TOR des Géants for 2023 as they kept my slot for three years. At the end of last year, I asked a good friend, Arnaud Dalais, about the coach who was helping him out on his Ironman race, and he mentioned that, David Leith, had prepared a guy who successfully completed the TOR in 2022. After a few phone calls, it was settled... David Leith would be my coach for the TOR, kicking off January 2023! Looking back, I am convinced now that some things do happen for a reason. If I had gone for the 2020 edition, I am 99% sure that I would not have finished the race; David brought my training to another level - almost three times the volume that I did back in 2020. So, after nine months, 210 activities, 355 hours of training, 49,662kms and 86,926m of elevation gain, my family and I headed to Courmayeur where the whole village is dressed in the colors of the TORX races. The pressure is rising, I recover my bib and my TOR bag, meticulously prepare everything that is going in the drop off bag; Space is precious, mandatory materials, change of clothes (x6), spare shoes, spare poles, nutrition, everything needs to fit in. After an hour of packing and repacking, I head back to the Sports Forum (3kms away) to drop my TOR bag and get back under a scorching sun. When I arrive at our hotel, I do not feel well and crash into bed with a headache and a high fever. I have been on and off with flue since my last week of training in Mauritius, I was just hoping that it was not going to pick up now. After a rough night with only a few hours of sleep due to the cough and fever, I wake up at 7:00 am and we head out for breakfast where I can barely eat so I have a coffee and an orange juice. I am not feeling well, which makes my stress levels go up. The TOR des Géants is already tough to tackle, and I am not in my best shape and the challenge ahead will not allow any weaknesses. My wife Vanessa and the girls manage to calm me down, putting everything back into perspective, I am here to finish the race and come back to them. So, we head out for the Pharmacy for a throat spray and nose drops and off to the starting line. It’s a cool Sunday morning in Courmayeur, the sky is blue, and the sun is slowly rising, warming up the runners with its rays. I only have a few last minutes, I hug and kiss my girls goodbye; the organizers call the runners, and we head in the sas, watch the traditional dance, a last kiss to my love … 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and off we go, that’s it, I’m running TOR des Géants.
when we woke up the next morning…no doubt we’re at the TOR's home! Preparation of my drop off bag, mandatory equipment and race pack – Quite a headache for such a long race.
with the help of Vanessa as chief organizer to make everything fit in the TOR bag, its finally ready to be dropped with the organisation.
levels go up at least 3 cranks…this just got real!!! Mr Hugh Acking from South Africa, finisher of the TOR des Géants 2022, trained by David Leith too. He shared his race report with me, providing me with precious information on the race. Thank You Hugh!
Considering my health, it was clear that I was going to start off as slowly as possible to see how my body reacts and adapts as the race progresses. I was worried that the cough or fever would get worse and prevent me from running. Also, one of my main concerns at the beginning of the race was the altitude, I did not know if I was going to have difficulties adapting. The target for this first section of the race was 54km for 4586m D+. We started off with Col Arp 2,571mts, Col Haut Pas 2,857mts then moved on to Col Crossatie 2,829mts. There was a beautiful sunny weather, it was hot and dry, the pace was comfortable, allowing me to warm-up and get into my race - it was tough but enjoyable. With the cough and this fever, I had taken a multivitamin pill and vitamin C in the morning, causing a few issues which later got sorted out naturally. I reached Valgrisenche at 10:51pm after 12:51:40 of race time. I had worked on a quick race plan (very basic) to follow, Valgrisenche was supposed to be a dinner pit stop but my TFLs (a muscle running along the exterior of the knee) were burning due to tension, and I was worried it would get worse, so I stopped at the kiné for treatment. After a failed attempt of kinesio-taping for my knees, I had a hot meal and left Valgrisheche at 11:50pm after 13:50 hours of race time. START 0 km/1220 m Sun 09:22 AM/00:00:00 Baite Youlaz 12 km/2039 m Sun 01:04 PM/03:04:13 La Thuile 18 km/1451 m Sun 02:02 PM/04:02:01 Rif. Deffeyes 27 km/2485 m Sun 04:45 PM/06:45:00 Biv. Zappelli 33 km/2030 m Sun 06:27 PM/08:27:39 Planaval 43 km/1560 m Sun 09:47 PM/11:47:23 Valgrisenche IN 49 km/1679 m Sun 10:51 PM/12:51:40
Haut Pas Col Crossatie
As I mentioned earlier, my coach had prepared a runner for the TOR des Géants 2022, Hugh Hacking, a South African guy who was kind enough to share his race report and a few tips with me. His document had been my bible for the last two weeks before the race. From his report, I knew that the next section was one of the hardest of the race, so I prepared myself mentally for the challenge ahead. The target for this second section was 56.5km for 5030m D+ - the lineup was Col Fenetre 2,840mts, Col Entrelor 3,002mts and Col Loson 3,299mts. Having to do two Cols above 3,000 back-to-back taught me a very precious lesson I would never forget for the rest of the race - do not try to go fast; go slow, keep your head down, one step at a time and the end will come at some point. The climb to Col Loson at 3299mts felt extremely challenging; the sun was scorching hot and the last few meters to the Col seemed endless. There I felt the effects of the altitude as my breathing was short, I was lightheaded and somewhat dizzy. The scenery at 3299mts plus was very intimidating for an island boy like me. At some point they came to film the race with a helicopter right over our heads making the whole thing a lot scarier. Another lesson I learnt during this section was to never expect the refreshment point to be around the corner, once we reached Cogne, we had to run 5 to 10kms before being able to rest. I reached Cogne (Base Vie 2) on Monday at 5:02pm after 31:02:44 of race time. Valgrisenche OUT 49 km/1679 m Sun 11:50 PM/13:50:43 Chalet Epee 55 km/2374 m Mon 01:49 AM/15:49:13 Rhemes-Notre-Dame 63 km/1732 m Mon 04:21 AM/18:21:02 Eaux Rousse 78 km/1683 m Mon 09:19 AM/23:19:56 Rif. Vittorio Sella 95 km/2569 m Mon 02:58 PM/28:58:13 103 km Mon 05:02 PM/31:02:44 Cogne IN
Col du Loson Col Entrelor
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