The intruder of the news gives each evening a spotlight on a personality who could have passed under the radars of the news.
A first in more than 35 years. On the night of Thursday 16 to Friday 17 March, a Frenchman finished and won a mythical ultra-trail in the United States: the Barkly, a race of 160 to 200 kilometers, with 20,000 meters of elevation gain. Participants have 60 hours to complete it. Aurélien Sanchez took 58 hours and 23 minutes, knowing that no one had finished the race since 2017. Since the start, in 1986, 17 have finished it, out of more than 1,000 competitors.
To understand the feat of Aurélien Sanchez, you have to listen to the organizer of this race without markings, in the wild mountains of Tennessee, in the fog, and which is inspired by the escape of a prisoner from the penitentiary who found on the course. This organizer, old Gary “Lazarus Lake”, an American with a big white beard, gives the start … while lighting a cigarette: “It’s time to light the cigarette! Everyone ready to have a good time? we hear it said in a documentary by Équipe exploresFinishers, directed by Alexis Berg and Aurelien Delfosse.
“You have to be quite brave. Because when you start, you leave everything behind to find yourself in the woods. You can only count on yourself. Your talent, your strength, your creativity… That’s what allows you to come back alive”continues Gary “Lazarus Lake”.
First weapons in football
And Aurélien Sanchez obviously managed to get out alive. This 32-year-old alien was born near Carcassonne, and grew up in the Limoux region (Audé). Imakes it an engineering school, the Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) in Toulouse. The sport, at the start, was football. He played for 16 years, notably at the Limoux football club.
But he discovers hiking at Phoenix, Arizona, owhere he spent four years that changed his life. He started walking, then trail and ultra-trail. His hero: explorer Mike Horn. Aurélien Sanchez goes on trails and some records, such as crossing the Pyrenees by the GR 10, starting from Banyuls-sur-Mer towards Hendaye. He completed it in 12 days, without any outside assistance. Since returning to France in 2020, he has also distinguished himself in Vendée, in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, on the “Last man standing” race (127 kilometers and 4,420 meters of elevation gain) in 13 hours and 54 minutes.
Ultra-trail fanatic
But it also tackles all the major trails in the world. For the Barkley, it’s all about being selected. It is therefore necessary for this to chain the races. And sometimes fail. As during the Charterhouse Terminorum, lhe little sister of the Barkley created in 2017 in Isère (300 kilometers, 25,000 meters of elevation gain): it was the first to complete the second loop of 100 kilometers, before giving up in the third. “Sometimes it passes. Often it breaks, but when it passes it’s cool. There, it’s more likely to break than to pass”he had told, in full effort, to a team from Dauphiné released who had followed him. “I had no more energy, no more balance”.
To be selected for the Barkley, for the past two years, he has also done the Diagonale des Fous de La Réunion, theUltra-trail of Mont-Blanc, the Grand Raid des Cathares in Aude or the Land of the Gods in Corsica. They are three to have finished the Barkley this year. Behind Aurélien Sanchez, we find the American John Kelly- who had already completed it a few years ago – and the Belgian Karel Sabbewhich ends six minutes from the final gong of the 60 hours.