MARIGOT—If the testimony of participants was anything to go by, words such as “extreme, hard, challenging, tough” were clearly inadequate to describe the experience of the Trans Soualiga trail run, the inaugural edition of which was held Sunday with an impressive turnout of 195 athletes spread over three categories.
Very evident at the finish line on Friars Bay Beach was the euphoric sense of achievement all finishers felt on completing arguably the hardest endurance event to date on this island.
Organiser Association Dream of Trails offered three distances to cater to a wide spectrum of fitness and ability; 50K for experienced endurance athletes, 22K, and a 13K, doable for most participants with a good fitness level.
Participants were required to carry safety accessories and an equipment inspection was done before all three starts.
It was not surprising the 13K was the most popular category with 114 entries, followed by 54 who took on the 22K and, 27 who braved the 50K.
Depending on the category, the race took participants over rarely seen parts of the island offering spectacular views, over mountain ridges, through the bush and over rocks walls, though gorges and ravines, with endless metres of climbing combined with technical descents. Refreshment stations were situated at strategic points along the way.
The 50K race which began in the dark at 4:00am from Bellevue was won by triathlete Grégoire Pigeon from SXM Tri Academy in six hours, 21 minutes. Second place went to Gendarme Benoit Perrichot in 6:33:23 and third place to Stelve Ramanick from the Mairie Sportif Club in Fort-de-France, Martinique.
“It was very, very, hard,” said Pigeon at the finish. “I really began to suffer after five hours and had to take it slow on the last downhill. From the start I was in a lead group of four separated from the rest of the group.”
By 11:00am only three athletes from the 27 that started had finished, and it was expected several would abandon.
The 22K race was won by Fabrice Bouquet from St. Martin in 3:20:29 followed by Fred Besnard from SXM Tri Academy (3:23:42), and Fabrice Arnaud third in 3:27:27.
The top female finisher of the 22K was Nicole Erato (4:00:18).
The 13K race was won by Thomas Lecuyot in 1:40:28. One or two athletes made mistakes on the course such as Kai Piscione who lost a couple of places.
Dream of Trails President, Jean-Marc Aubry, revealed the race took four months to prepare, to obtain permits and authorisation from landowners, and weeks of preparing and cutting the trails with a team just 10 volunteers.
“We are very happy with the turnout,” said Aubry. “The goal of this race is to show that we can organise big trail races like they do in Martinique and Guadeloupe. It is supposed to be a hard race because when you go to Martinique or Guadeloupe it is tough.”
He added: “You know on the French side it takes a very long time to get authorisations and 80 per cent of the race went through private property. It was important to do this race to attract everybody; if it was only 50K nobody would come. The idea is to make a championship out of it. The sponsors were very supportive as they understand for the past two years we are a serious organisation.”
Trophies for the event were designed by Carla Templeton. Full results can be seen on the Dream of Trails Facebook page.
