On their playground in Saint-Martin, the trail runners of Dream of Trail (tag DOT sxm) train all year round happily - and seriously of course -, secretly longing, let's face it, for a little more greenery , large and varied landscapes that stretch as far as the eye can see... so when the Manikou club presents its Transmartinique 2022, all their senses come alive!
Thus, a few weeks later, at the beginning of December, a beautiful delegation of 17 trail runners from Dream of Trail, motivated, well equipped and well prepared, landed in Martinique.
On the menu of the Transmartinique, there is something for everyone and that's good because the DOTs are represented on all the races offered:
The Jung'la, 54 km for 3200m of altitude difference. It's 5 of us who are going to taste it. We wanted elevation, we got it. Greenery to savor all along the route? It was on demand! And the mud? Ah, there we came close to indigestion! François, who was not in good physical condition at the start, had to (wisely) withdraw after the ascent of Pelee. The others are finishers, Gerben crosses the line in 12h17 (21st overall, 3rd in his category), Daniel is close behind him in 12h21 (24th, 4th in his category), Evelyn and Anne proudly deserve their 4th and 5th place women in 13:38 p.m. (1st each in their category).
The Banakann 80km for 1800 m of elevation. Félix and Pascal make it their main course. They were boosted motivated, they will be Finishers. (Pascal 35th in 16:08 p.m. -3rd in his category- and Féfé 45th in 17:09 p.m.).
The Challenge (Blue) 58 km for 1250m of elevation is taken up by Esnard, a regular at this race... except that after 3 years of abstinence and faulty markup (but what the hell happened?!), he loses, loses, loses again, and yet despite that, he always gains more places to finish 11th in the general classification in 8h25 (1st in his category:). Respect, President.
On this same blue challenge will also take the start (and also many twists and turns…): Christophe and Bruno who will finish 46 and 47th (3rd in his category for Bruno) in 9h20. Closely followed by Fabrice, who had to manage a lot of pain, finisher in 9h23, in 51st place (3rd in his category). Davy succeeded in taming his recalcitrant knee to finish 61st (in 9:33) and Eric completed this race cleanly in 9:41 (69th).
On the 33km Trail des Caps for 280m of elevation, Lydia and Quentin are taking the plunge. Determined, they will both finish -Quentin in 32nd place in 3h49 but that did not calm him down and Lydia did not give up, managed the cramps and finished bravely in 5h51!
Finally, on the Trace des Baies 19 km for 150m of elevation, our national Johnny (that of Sxm) completely deserves his consecration on the podium (2nd in his category, 149th overall but there must be an error), in 2h35, and Emmanuel, our dean, finished his race honorably in 3h07, 3rd in his category.
As for the complete Transmartinique race, which takes the athlete (out of the ordinary!) from Grand'Rivière to Sainte-Anne in 134 km, this year, it is our friend Vince, also a trailer from Saint-Martin, who is sticking to it. He carried out a great individual preparation, which allows him to manage this test physically and mentally; he finished in 30 hours, 51st overall: well done!
This same complete race will also be run in relay by our friends from Club SxM Extrême Runner, who get a nice 2nd and 3rd place (mixed category).
We suffered, really, because the courses of the Transmartinique are really an extreme ordeal for the body and require a mind of steel, we nevertheless know that we were in our place because (we love it) happiness is apocalyptically immense when we crosses the line and above all that we receive our Grail... (no, not a big check, but something so precious whose value cannot be estimated): the famous Finisher T-shirt, adorned with its pretty big medal !
So thank you Club Manikou and all its wonderful volunteers for putting so much energy into organizing these races, thank you Martinique for its riches… and its delicious rums so appreciated as soon as you put on your trail shoes!
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