“It is time for the runners to finally decide to move their buttocks to finish these five 60 km loops. Like the charismatic Lazarus “Laz” Lake of the Barkley, Benoît Laval goes there with a piquant humor before the start on Friday of the fifth edition of his Chartreuse Terminorum, which has not yet known a single finisher since 2017. How could -it could be otherwise, when you know that you have to stuff yourself with 300 km and 25,000 m of elevation gain in less than 80 hours, all without the slightest markup or the use of GPS, and with a single refueling every 60 km ? Selected from the 200 annual applications, there will be 40 ultra-trailers (including three women) to set off into the exceptional forest of Grande Chartreuse (Isère) to find the famous books of this “French-style Barkley”.
The only race in the world dubbed since its creation by the organizers of the mythical Tennessee event (200 km and 20,000 m of elevation gain), the Chartreuse Terminorum has seen almost half of its (secret) course evolve “to remain playful and mysterious” . From the atypical registration fee (3 euros, or 1 cent per kilometer), to the gifts to bring, namely your license plate and a beer from your region, the fun codes of the Barkley are reproduced. Except that the corner has its own strong identity. No freezing forest of Frozen Head having lived the escape of the assassin of Martin Luther King but a massive silencer where the monastery of the Grande Chartreuse is located, still in activity.
“Something is unblocked psychologically”
“The big story that inhabits these dense forests can be perceived as oppressive and hostile by some,” says Mickael Berthon, which will participate in its fourth Charterhouse Terminorum. Personally, I feel like in my garden, there is something magical and spiritual here. We can add to the picture a base camp with diots and potatoes served non-stop during the weekend, plus the tradition of a sip of vegetable elixir from the Grande Chartreuse (at 69 degrees) between each loop. “It puts the ideas back in place before returning,” laughs Mickaël Berthon, who dreams of becoming the first finisher in the history of the young race. Could this one also beat the invincibility record of its glorious American eldest, who had taken nine years to complete on time?
“On the first edition, it was seen as something extraordinary to finish two of the five laps [seul Gaëtan Janssens y était parvenu en 29 heures], observes Benoît Laval. They are now five to have proven that finishing the three loops of the FunRun was accessible. “Even if David Berranger, current record holder of the event with two pounds recovered on the fourth loop, will be absent this year, Benoît Laval is considering the click edition, believing that all these amateur athletes are “constantly better prepared”.
As an organizer, I want someone to finish the race and I will be very happy if that happens this year. It’s not complicated to create a race that never has a finisher: just put a difficulty making it totally impossible. There, it takes a feat to achieve it as was done on the Barkley this year. There was no finisher since 2017 in this version, it seemed too difficult or even unattainable. And there, something was unlocked psychologically, with three finishers in March. It reminds us that it is not only Kilian Jornet who can sign this kind of exploit. »
“It remains an extraordinary challenge”
Aurélien Sanchez is one of these heroes, since he became the first Frenchman in history to finish the Frozen Head event (17 finishers in 37 years) in 58h23. Three months later, this 32-year-old engineer from Toulouse aligns himself with the Chartreuse Terminorum, where he had given up after two and a half loops in 2022, “falling from fatigue”. “It was short to empty but I feel ready physically and in the head, he assures. I am in optimal conditions. The Barkley gave me confidence and I necessarily dream of finishing this race. But it’s still an extraordinary challenge, and as long as there hasn’t been a finisher, I still wonder if this one is possible. »
Because after all, you have to stuff yourself 100 km more than on the Barkley… “But with less technical trails, and less risk of getting lost”, reveals Aurélien Sanchez. So choose your side when determining which is the toughest race in the world. On the strength of his four participations in the Barkley, Benoît Laval offers key advice to participants: “To go far, it is better to wait for the trail runner who follows and sympathize with him. The runners understand for themselves, over the years, that you have to put aside the dimension of competition, because it is a collective building”.
“Our only enemy is the race itself”
Except during the hypothetical fifth and last loop, for which they would start in the opposite direction, the participants can indeed join the base camp of the race with several people. This is where the org checks for missing book pages. For Benoît Laval, founder of the sports equipment manufacturer Raidlight, it is “a strong psychological moment”, during which the stop or even “hangs by a thread” in the head of each trail runner.
A year after finishing three loops of the event for the first time (in 48 hours), Mickaël Berthon has understood the importance of limiting moments of solitude to last in the Grande Chartreuse. “We are dealing with a real community with great moments of mutual support. We don’t think about the classification, our only enemy is the race itself. »
A formidable start at 0:04 in the fourth edition
This 35-year-old from Nord-Isérois took up trail running in 2016, with “a profile of a hiker who loves resourcefulness and maps”. Enough to see the Chartreuse Terminorum as his ideal playground, especially since he has been living in Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse since this spring. World record holder of the full GR5, with 2,200 km on foot covered in 30 days from Rotterdam to Nice last October, he got used to sleeping less than an hour per edition of the endless Isère race. “The lack of sleep and lucidity very quickly leads to mistakes that do not forgive, that’s what’s great,” he smiles.
Brilliant as a start given at 0:04 a.m. during the 2022 edition. Because the formidable uncertainty of the start of the race, which also corresponds to the habits of the Barkley, is there: the start can take place at any time Friday, between midnight and noon. “You have to be ready to face the unknown, suffering and loneliness, says Benoît Bachelet (48), who finished the three loops alongside Mickaël Berthon in 2022. We sometimes have the feeling that our body can’t go any further, that we find ourselves on the verge of rupture and abandonment, and then we set off again for 15 hours of racing. »
A former ice hockey international on the spot
This former tricolor international… ice hockey player is used to pushing his limits in trail running. Finisher of several major ultras since 2007 such as UT4M, Echappée Belle and Diagonale des Fous, the Grenoble native has increased his performance by one lap at each of his participations in the Chartreuse Terminorum so far. “It is certain that this extraordinary race will be completed by someone one day, given how the plateau is more and more raised there”, underlines the double champion of France with the Burners of wolves. The latter describes how incomparable/ruthless this race is.
People do not realize how the Chartreuse Terminorum has nothing to do with an ultra-trail. On an ultra, you can put yourself on autopilot. We need to do nothing but follow the beacons. There, at the slightest navigation error, we lose an hour. It takes a permanent concentration and it wastes in us a mad energy. »
When hallucinations invite themselves to the party, it is thus necessary to draw from the depths of oneself what is left of lucidity to follow the right path and avoid missing books. And this despite the constraint (one more) of changes of direction at each turn, day and night. Enough to make (even more) crazy these addicts to the test. “Some of us are obsessed with this event, recognizes Mickaël Berthon. It’s the race of a lifetime, it’s completely rooted in me. It would have such a special flavor to be the first to finish, it would be a real consecration. “Benoît Laval is in any case prepared for such a scenario for one of the 40 committed: “I asked my Monday. It will be to go fishing, to the movies, or maybe there will be a miracle on the run”.