Two months after giving birth, it is therefore humanly possible to run sections of the formidable GR20 in Corsica (170 km and 12,700 m of elevation gain in total). The trailer Anne-Lise Rousset proved it last year and she is even tackling Monday, from 6 am, the women’s crossing record, from Calenzana to Conca. Ten years earlier, nothing seemed to predestine her for such an ultra-trail challenge. “Before 2013, I didn’t run that much, just a little for fun, without a license,” explains the 33-year-old Haut-Savoyarde.
As part of a raid in the Toulouse region, where she is studying as a veterinarian, she meets Adrien Séguret, who will become her trainer… and her husband. Since this meeting, she has been performing top flight by winning the CCC in 2014 (101 km, 6,090 m of D+ as part of the UTMB in Chamonix), and finishing second three times (2016, 2017, 2019) on the Transvulcania (73 km, 4,330 m elevation gain in Spain).
50 hours of work per week in a veterinary practice
“Frankly, I didn’t know I could do all that,” smiles the Team Scott athlete. The format of races between 70 and 80 km quickly pleased me more than the 30-40 circuits, and I now want to taste the ultra to reduce my number of races and set myself one or two big goals per season. . “She will be served with this challenge off on the GR20, where she will seek to bring down the 41h22 of Emilie Lecomte in Corsica (in June 2012).
Achieving this would be all the more impressive since Anne-Lise Rousset works 80% in a veterinary practice in Cruseilles (Haute-Savoie), i.e. “about fifty hours a week”. All while being a mother for 11 months of a little Faustin, who is an adventure on the island of Beauty, looked after by the little sister of Anne-Lise.
“It’s as much dream as fear”
Validating such a record would be the culmination of her great complicity with Corsica, born in September 2019, when she covered the entire GR20 in five days with her companion. “I had a real crush on this course, and we are always very well received by the locals”, appreciates the veterinarian. Adrien Séguret immediately suggests that he try this crossing record. “OK, we slept in a refuge, but completing the GR20 in 36 hours despite a backpack, and eating cold meats and cheese, it gives ideas,” says the coach of the French trail team.
In 2020, Anne-Lise Rousset signs her first project off of scale with the record crossing of the Aravis (49 km and 6,110 m of D+ in Haute-Savoie). But the monster that presents itself to her on Monday is of a completely different dimension. The failure in 2017 of the American Rory Bosio, winner of two UTMBs, who exploded in the Corsican mountains to finally reach Conca after around 50 hours, is a reminder of this. Just like the very low number of female attempts, compared to men (Kilian Jornet, Guillaume Peretti, François D’Haene, Xavier Thévenard, Lambert Santelli). Anne-Lise Rousset is well aware of this.
“I don’t know if the GR20 scares women more than men, but yes, it’s a construction site and it’s as much a dream as a fear, it’s so technical and demanding. Guillaume Peretti, who traveled a lot there, readily admits that he left a few years of life there. It’s a bit crazy but it’s legendary. »
A much more technical route than the Diagonale des Fous
By way of comparison, the emblematic Diagonale des Fous in Reunion, which combines substantially the same distance and the same difference in altitude (165 km and 9,576 m of D+), is completed in less than 30 hours on the women’s table, while the The GR20 record is therefore at 41h20… This is why Anne-Lise Rousset tried to put all the chances on her side, by multiplying the locations in Corsica. And this with above all 15 days devoted in May to completing the entire route twice, alongside his friends Guillaume Peretti and Lambert Santelli, the current record holder on the GR20 (in 30h25).
With Adrien Séguret, she is aiming for a mark around 36:30 to homologate with a margin the women’s record on this official route, which passes both through the fascinating circus of solitude, and through the alpine variant of Bavella. Anne-Lise Rousset is aware of the unknown part for her, given that she has never covered such a distance without a real break in her career, or even 100 km since her fourth place on the CCC in 2018.
“This distance does not scare me at all”
“Never having done 100 miles (160 km) and having had a baby less than a year ago, which led to a stoppage of competition and a loss of bearings, all that necessarily scares me a little, admits she. But I have never put as much commitment as for this project. » The permanent presence at his side of two pacers who will take turns (including Guillaume Peretti and Lambert Santelli) is likely to reassure her. Just like her husband’s optimism.
“This distance does not scare me at all, assures Adrien Séguret. You walk a lot more than you run on the GR20, and the more technical it is, the stronger it is. For me, she is as ready as a girl who has already completed five 100 miles. In his mind, it’s not a 170 km but full of sections of about 20 terminals with a dozen pacers totally different. Physically and psychologically, it’s much better to approach things that way. Sharing such a challenge with friends, in the Corsican mountains that put stars in her eyes, is tailor-made for her. »