This is the story of a bunch of friends, sporty to the tips of their toes. Hugo, Benjamin, Gaëtan and Romain will tackle a world record on Saturday. The third for some of them. Not the javelin throw record, nor the 100m butterfly record. No, less common stuff. No wacky records like the Charentaise throw or the cherry stone throw either. Their records are marginal, and require – to have the idea of raising them – a good dose of imagination.
The common passion of these four Montpellier residents is CrossFit. The records they dream of breaking one after the other all have a link with this sport born in the 1970s in the United States. This opens up the field of possibilities, since the discipline centers its functioning around ten athletic skills, ranging from endurance to speed and agility.
An Assault AirBike world record attempt on the program
“This time we are attacking the Assault AirBike world record,” they explain. An air resistance bike on which the legs run simultaneously with the arms. Their ambition: to drop the 636 km bar in 24 hours. The four of them will take turns trying to achieve this.
Some of them have already recently conquered two world records: on a team rower for 24 hours and on the SkiErg (again for 24 hours). So many torture instruments used during CrossFit preparation. Gear to work on endurance and lactic acidity but diverted from its primary utility to go to the end of the game.
For fun, fame and a noble cause
“We are a bit of the opportunists, recognizes Hugo Le Charpentier. The idea of trying to break world records is cool, but you make sense of it by adding a noble cause to it. This record hunt is not just a race for recognition and surpassing oneself. Each attempt is associated with a donation campaign.
On Saturday, the four men will fight a little for themselves, but also for Thomas fernandez. The table tennis player from Sète, double bronze medalist by team at the European Handisport Championships, obtained his qualification for Wodapalooza, one of the most prestigious CrossFit competitions held in Miami in January 2022. The qualification is good, but the participation, airfare and accommodation have a cost.
Company managers or association presidents
The four friends have therefore decided to give him a hand by opening an online pot, and using their passion and their taste for a challenge to give him visibility. The attempt will be broadcast on social networks, where they have a small community. On site, in the CrossFit M34 South room in Pérols, near Montpellier, many activities are planned with prizes to be won. “We systematically try to make our actions relevant by rallying our passion to noble causes”, continues Hugo Le Charpentier.
If they are not (or no longer) high level sportsmen, their lifestyle has nothing to envy them. Romain Rochas (former elite 2 rugby player in Montpellier) and Benjamin Voirin (former high level rower) created Montpoul (contraction of Montpellier and Mon Chicken), an association which is developing a small line of clothing which they donate a portion of the profits at charity events. In nut we trust, for its part, is a company managed by Hugo Le Charpentier and Gaëtan Tomaso, committed to ecological transition. If they are nuts, a little cracked in English in the text, it’s sport. Because these four, never short of ideas for somewhat barred challenges, for the rest, their heads are on their shoulders.