Racers comments > 2006

I’ve been so busy telling people about the fantastic time I had on the Trans Aq’, I haven’t written to tell you what a wonderful experience you provided ! Your event was everything I had hoped for : indescribable beauty, superb organisation, challenging running, friendliness and camaraderie. The Dune de Pyla was a big highlight.

 It confirmed to me, that although not an outstanding runner, I could do it, and go beyond the limits that you think you have. I could have managed the last 10k of the third day. I have certainly learnt from the race, and will now attempt some other endurance trail and desert runs.

 On the Sunday after, I ran a 5k for a club league race, at almost my usual pace ! But my legs/feet are still fragile – yesterday did a 25k training run on Downs and stiff afterwards. This is for a team run of 100km on the hilly South Downs on 15 th July. We will be trying to beat the Vets record of 15:40.

 Thanks for the picture. I’d like to repeat the TransAq’ experience and better my time, and bring back a colleague or two. I’m creating a file of information (including a full set of road maps !) and pictures, to persuade people. I’m also going to file a report to Runners World, so please continue to organise the event !

 I am attaching a report for our club newsletter for your interest. Please pass on this email to Susan Serres (she can translate it for you !). She is a terrific friend to your event, and kept the English-speaking people very happy !

Here are some suggestions I have :
 Charge more for start Fri/Sat meals : I would have been happy with E30
 No discount of E50 for team entries (they will enter anyway)
 Obviously, increase entry fee by E50 next year
 Raise limit to 250 ?
 Water bottle number marking at stations, only necessary if runners carry them onwards
 Cool boxes for water bottles at water stations if very hot ?
 Very impressed with Bordeaux to recover afterwards – maybe a cheap hotel link for foreign runners ?
 Publicise event & stage finishing times in campsites & local village shops, for them to support.
Things you did very well :
 Being friendly, supportive, and thoughtful
 Road maps and tape marking
 Coke and peach on the 5 th day !
 Be on the route and at end for runners (Gerard do you have twin brothers !)
 Checking on runners enjoyment of each stage and whole race
 The catering at start and finish of race (& in middle for staff ?!) – please pass on my appreciation to Eve.Rest
 Moving the tents
 Excellent website : love the Notes section, Results well presented
 Please pass on my thanks to all your hard-working staff. They made it a great event for the runners.
 Many thanks to you both for such hard work, and making the TransAq such a memorable experience. I hope your event goes from strength to strength.
 Hope to see you in future !
 Best regards, "

"Very good race. Was hard running but very enjoyable with lots of memories to bring home with me. Each day came with a new venue and different type of race. Loved running through the forests but not too keen on the hard running walking through the deep sand. Spectacular running along the Dune Du Pyla. Felt relieved but a little cheated when the long run was shortened. We were so well looked after all week. Lots of extra water, very helpful Marshall’s and staff. Good food before and after the event. Good atmosphere all week."

How are you and how is carolin ? 1st of all we must say that what you did guys in this race was amazing and this is one of the most beautiful race in my life even if I didn’t have that much of luck to finish it but its one off the most beautiful race in my life and I will never forget this experience at all so 1000 thank you for you and all you wonderful team BRAVO

"This race finally wasn’t about running but an experience about people for people. Learning about ourselves but especially learning about others. With a “family” that you have brought to life, the closeness, helpfulness, compassion and the acceptance of everyone, I really can’t understand why there is strife and hate in this world. Thank you so much for opening my eyes and making me realise just how much I was missing about what a real world should be like."

The camaraderie was superb amongst all 160+ runners and it is something I will never forget - but my body would like to !! Several of our team had completed the MDS (Marathon des Sables) and said that your event was as tough if not tougher due to the terrain - obviously the heat was a big factor.

The british group are all involved in organising runs (or myself a triathlon) so know how hard you and all your team worked. It was a great event and some are already talking about next year ! I however now know my limit so will restrict myself to easy events such as Ironman Triathlon or other one-day endurance races.

At the start of day 3 we were told that we had been in the local paper the day before but don’t know which paper it was. I was dossard 121 and my friend was 125. Could you let me know which paper it was so that I can get a copy.

"Once again, well done for your race. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve felt such friendliness in a race by stages. No criticisms to be made, none of the runner’s who were stopped at Km 59 of the 3 rd stage would have made less than 1h30. The heat and tiredness was too much. The decisions taken by Gérard were full of good sense. The Trans Aq’ is a very big event. It must keep this “state of mind” as long as possible. See you soon (2007 ???)”.

“Back in Normandy, I’m taking the time to thank you once again. Indeed the TRANS AQ’ 2006 had its faults but I finally appreciated them. As said Gérard, “She was difficult but she was beautiful !” Listen to the criticisms, but leave those of certain “consumer runners” in the dustbin ! Relax now and prepare for us a TRANS AQ’ 3 even more “beautiful” !! Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“The Trans Aq’ 2006 is over….What an extraordinary week, on all levels, extraordinary in its real sense of being totally disconnected from our daily lives and habits.

Thoughts are overflowing, minds are in turmoil and if bodies are suffering, the pain is there to remind us of this unique experience not to be forgotten.

Get rid of the superficial right away, what generates questions, what our lives are filled with today, I’m talking about performance and results. It was a race, there was a grading and no matter what our personal place we would never have imagined this result ; an even bigger surprise for the team performance (5 th out of 22 for CSI IBM Orléans).

Get back to essentials, the truth, the spirit of the Trans Aq’. Strong moments, Zen, difficult, funny, communication and help, solitude, solidarity, laughs, tears, doubts, smiles…. Strong emotions like on a big stage where we’re both actors and audience.

Over and above the organisation, tuned to the runners, Gérard and Caroline gave us happiness, pure happiness and I simply say to them thank you, simplicity being their major quality.

Friends, friends for a minute, friends for an hour, friends for life…. When hearts are open and meet, it’s a blood communion that links us. Rediscovering my team members ; discovering my new team members and our tent mates. We all came with our small bags, our few things but as hours and days and difficulties slipped past no one hesitated to put to use their things to help and share with others. It was real solidarity, material and morale.

Our bodies. The human body is incredible, we’ve been told and we’ve tested it for you. Incredible powers of recovery !!! All dead on our feet at the end of each stage but all up and ready to go at the start of the next one. We all had injuries, mostly feet, always muscles, often tendons and sometimes joints and this right from the start. Each start was slow and difficult, pain occupying our thoughts, but after 10 to 15 minutes perhaps an hour the pain parameter has made its mark and we can start thinking about other things, often the others whom themselves need to get out of their interior selves. The race itself and the beauty of the surroundings do the rest. Sometimes a tree stump, a rise, a very sandy passage remind us of our hurts, but it’s really only when crossing the finish line that we realise the whole race was run in pain.

Our spirit. The balance between thinking of stopping and the willpower to finish is precarious. What pushes us to always make that one more step towards the finish line ? Everyone has their own answer and their own motivations, personally the team spirit helped me a lot to get going when walking seemed a luxury and how can I not forget Raymond, an Englishman that I saw fallen at the 3 rd aid station of the 3 rd stage and who finished the Trans Aq’, because he was running to raise funds for research into brain tumours, his son died at the age of 16 a few years ago from this illness.

Worrying about the unknown the day before the start, camping on the beach at Cap Ferret, starting from the top of the Dune du Pyla with a magical sunset, alone, at night, in the forest with the head light on, the passage when arriving at lake Hourtin, the briefings, relaxation on the beach, the Coca and peach offered to us by the organisers at the finish line of the 5 th stage, the Huchet, the last 200m before the final finish line, the happiness at our arrival and the happiness of all the other finishers, the paella, our hysterical laughter….

I’ve only got thanks to give, for having allowed me to run through magnificent countryside without having to think of everything else that you had taken in charge on one side and my wife on the other. I rediscovered solidarity, friendship, the giving by the volunteers, the medical team, but I also rediscovered my good and bad thoughts.

Beautiful . Even as a native, I rediscovered the Aquitaine area, sometimes in suffering, but the loveliness of the area made me forget the pain.

Long . The distances speak for themselves, they will always remain long even with the long stage shortened (and the complainers can stop now because they were on their last legs).

Hard . The Trans Aq’ is not flat and the sand added to the difficulty. The hardest stage was the 35Km after the night run, especially with the “roller coaster” over the last 10Km.

Humane . Well if there was a trophy for that, the Trans Aq’ would win it. All the staff (including yourselves, of course) were at our beck and call, always that little word of comfort to boost morale, a small gesture that warms the heart.

One or two other things ; after having spoken to other runners, it would be cool if there was a forum in order to keep in contact (I’m ready to help you by being the moderator, for example), and concerning the results, the runners are asking why you didn’t use electronic bracelets owing that you were the pioneer of this on trail runs (I think it’s probably a budget problem). Well, I’ll leave you now and once again thank you for your kindness and for this superb adventure.”

“First of all, thank you for these moments outside of daily life, for the brotherly links within a world of brutes. Let yourselves go once the adrenalin levels have fallen. THANK YOU again, the body is fine, this was my baptism with my friends from ADISCHATZ so I ran it as an apprentice. See you soon, we’re recruiting helpers !! Bye and toes spread !!”

I’m very proud to have passed this week 23 in your company, it was a week rich with experience and emotions ; you were tremendous ; these 4 words, essential to my heart, fit you so well : respect, love, beauty, sharing. I hope that you are recovering well and that we will be together again next year.

We got home on Sunday full of super souvenirs in our heads and some more visible ones on our feet. A big thank you to all, for this superb anniversary like no others.

“Thanks to both of you Gérard and Caroline, thanks to all the staff for this exceptional week, all the paths run with joy, sometimes in suffering, but always happily, all that sand in beautiful Aquitaine sunshine, Hot but correct ! And the atmosphere of honest friendship, as if we’d known each other for years.

If that is the Trans Aq’, then I’m hooked ! And if I should have to summarise this race into one word, from a psychiatric point of view, I would say RESPECT !

I followed the rest of the event on your website with lots of interest and regrets, because I think that I missed some big moments of suffering but also of solidarity.

I don’t know if I can re-run this race, but you can count on me to be a witness to the seriousness of the organisation for the whole race and the great friendliness that can be found in the bivouac.”

After being able to certify that the person who invented the bed was a great man and that after 3 days, I’m slowly getting back into the way of things here’s a little word to congratulate you on the success for the organisation of the Trans Aq’. It’s an event that has marked my life and who knows, the day that there is a Transarmor (Brittany) or a Transpaca (French Riviera) or a Transcatalogne (French Pyrenees) you may see me at the start line.

I just wanted to ask if it’s possible to have the road books ; I couldn’t keep mine because of their advanced decay. They are for me, essential souvenirs filled with sweat and pain.

Even if all has already been said, I must from a personal point of view thank you and congratulate you for the organisation of this new type of event in France. It was the occasion to meet and appreciate people that I would not have mixed with elsewhere, and that, would have been a great shame. This event must stay within a humane scale, that’s what will give it its reputation. With smiling organisers and helpers ; it’s a great help when you’re at the edge of an abyss.

I would, however, like an explanation, our team Tri Dep had the 4 th place in the results list and today, surprise, we’ve been moved down a place ? Even if it’s not that important, the satisfaction is not the same and I have to admit that I was getting used to my place…..

“This race finally wasn’t about running but an experience about people for people. Learning about ourselves but especially learning about others. With a “family” that you have brought to life, the closeness, helpfulness, compassion and the acceptance of everyone, I really can’t understand why there is strife and hate in this world. Thank you so much for opening my eyes and making me realise just how much I was missing about what a real world should be like.

"Thank you for your smiles and your anxiety, for your kindness, your comforting words, small signs of understanding and encouragement that you knew how to give…

A big thank you and loads of tenderness for those with whom I ran with (Jean-Pierre bib N° 46, Arnaud from Oyonnax, Gérard of the Free Runners, who urged me to continue when I wanted to abandon after the first stage…).

To all you boys and girls, staff members, a huge “well done” for having the courage to put up with everything !!! And big kisses from the “Ancient.”

It takes all the ingredients that make the cartoon master pieces timeless. It’s magnificent, cruel ; it makes us humble, humane, it’s a story already drawn up but with a different destiny for each character ; there are the good guys (us) with competitive objectives as different as each runner, there are the bad guys (you) who scatter our paths with pitfalls ; there are the rescuers (marshals and yourselves that our suffering affects), there is a lesson to be learnt (if you’re not humble then your place is not here), and then there is the end, always good because you never forget those that the story left along the way.

All of these factors make your race an event, a page in the history of wild racing, where the only pleasure is to find people with the same passion for discovering or re-discovering wonderful countryside and an atmosphere of meeting and sharing unique to this type of organisation.

I’m picking myself up little by little because having to be stopped during a race is difficult to accept (especially when you are as stubborn as me !). But it’s true that I’m disappointed because when I see the results from the 2 nd stage to the last stage many runners were over the cut-off times. But there are no hard feelings because I understand your decision, even if it was hard to accept at the time. My decision to join the staff the following days was very difficult to get my head around, I regretted not being amongst the runners (there was no point in remaining alone in my corner !). No regrets for having helped the marshals because I came to appreciate some wonderful people as well as the runners. It was the start of an exchange of advice and experience helpful to me who only started running 4 years ago. They gave me lots of advice, comforting words… This new, temporary family made me forget little by little the ending of the race for me.

Otherwise for the 3 stages that I did run, they were superb and I came home with my head full of memories. In spite of the difficulties, the circuits were magnificent. Just happiness ; lots of pleasure right from the first stage. It was even more beautiful than last year. It’s a strong human adventure where we find a great solidarity, mutual aid between runners with no prejudgements. What happiness to live a week in the sun far from everything, just pine trees and sand and great people (organisers, staff : medics, marshals, caterers, runners…). Between the tree stumps in the tracks of the second stage, the hilly bits, the sand, the pine needles that crack underfoot, and the blisters that tickle our feet. The Trans Aq’ is an Aquitainian paradise that saw the light in 2005. Gérard and Caroline you have given birth to a superb French Race thanks to your efforts, your friendship, your tenacity for organising, for obtaining our pleasure and defining magnificent circuits inspite of the pitfalls generated by certain land owners…

A big thank you also to my tent mates “Le Gurp” : Bernard, Dominique, Corrine, Séverine, Steve, Sébastien and Bruno for their advice and support.

There, well done to both of you. Caroline rest well because your nights were very long in order to publish the results across the net. Relax, take some holidays.

Myself, I’ll say see you soon (Trans Aq’ 3). For the back pack, I’ll reduce to a maximum. I’ll re-evaluate my training programme and my compass ! I just have to start saving or find a sponsor.

For what I did, I’m happy and I’ll start all over again. It’s given me the urge to get going and start more training and check out my dietary habits in order to run other stage-type races.

I’m here to thank you for the beautiful adventure that I’ve just lived through this week. Once again, well done for the organisation and the volunteers. I think that the photos will be out soon to show this great event.

Let’s hope that this race will last. It deserves to and you deserve it too. And Arnaud must come back to beat it !!! He’s already decided to come back in 2 years time (problems for 2007) with a fire brigade team this time !!!

- For certain stages (5 th) some runners took the option of short-cutting and, therefore, avoiding the self-clip markers and others (myself) the bet of going via all the self-clip markers even if it was a little longer…. I was disappointed to find that my efforts were in vain because no penalties were imposed !? It’s true that it was a difficult sum to calculate especially with 2 stages per card, it would have meant changing the gradings after the event !!!
So why self-clip markers ?? Some understood before me !!

- After a short night and a new start in high heat (11h), I think that the 5 th stage was a little too long and too difficult at the end of the circuit (the last 15km) !!

- After the final finish line, it was a bit rough on us to have to go to and from the camp site showers with our back packs and our big personal bag that we picked up, even if we had already talked about this on arrival day and even though it had been explained to me that all vehicles were in use !!!

I was unaware of any organisational imperfections or stress. The heat added to the challenge for me. I learnt alot about endurance running, and made new friends. Looking forward to the DVD.

I have decided that all being well, I will Trans Aq next year. I will pay the full amount and not take the 50 euros ’reward’ for one race run. I want this beautiful event to continue. Everything is worth it for the Dune de Pyla night stage !

“First of all I wish to thank you for your kindness, your sincerity and your simplicity. When I met you for the first time you were so very likable, I would never have imagined making such a great encounter and I’m not at all disappointed.

Thank you for having believed in me ! I think that I would never have participated in such a race without your advice. The goal was to finish (and that’s done) and I would equally not have been able to do that. Your shared experience was greatly appreciated.

I’m very happy to have finished the Trans Aq’, and to show that even when we are young we can succeed in this type of challenge. The recipe is : willpower, motivation and going beyond ones self !!!

The Trans Aq’, as you have said, is not a difficult race, it’s a magic race. I’ve always lived in this area and I’ve discovered during the race some magnificent countryside. We, Aquitainians don’t realise how lucky we are to be able to live in such a beautiful part of France !!!

Concerning the race itself, it was really well organised, the signalisation, the road book, the aid stations, the bivouacs ; and I’ve kept very special memories of the one at Cap Ferret. For my first stage race, I’m not disappointed by the ride, and as I’ve already said it’s given me the desire to continue, to go even further but all in moderation in spite of what I hear all around me. Hard lines for those who can’t understand !

Anyway, once again well done for the success of the Trans Aq’ 2006, thanks to everyone, the volunteer helpers for their kindness, their encouragements, their advice. Equally my great thanks go to my tent mates of the “Gurp3 : Sandrine, Bernard, Corinne,n Séverine, Dominique, Jean-Sébastien, Bruno. Helping each other and friendship are part of the adventure : humane encounters with people passionate, interesting but also completely crazy !!!

Often I’m told “but you’re completely crazy to run a race like that, there are lots of other things for you to do at your age.” Note that this year there were not 152 crazy people at the start line, but 154, because you, Gérard and Caroline, you’ve understood that you have to be completely crazy to organise such a race !!!

I saw that your web site is being put into place and we are all giving you ideas to bring this race to its full ripening, I’ve also got an idea : plan a bottle of fizzy water at the finish lines.

I’ve kept 3 strong moments in my mind : stage 2 I’d say it was “playfully-technical”, the night run was “magic”, the Cap-Ferret and Dune du Pyla “sumptuous”.

“I’ve not yet registered, but I’m 90% certain to be back next year (as my children say “it was too good the Trans Aq’” !!!) with a new team perhaps, made up of 2 very good friends who couldn’t be there this year because of a lack of training time and most certainly with Sylvie Michon who won’t accept not finishing - I know her well. And why not Alain Monsieur who’ll also be back again.

Briefly, I’m enchanted by this race and wish you some very good holiday time. Myself I’m going to spend 3 weeks at L’Amélie so I’’ll be able to re-live some of my best souvenirs of this great race.”

“What can be more selective than memory ? But it works both ways : during the Trans Aq’, at certain moments I was positively raging (that helped me get through in spite of the difficulties) and yet now, when I think about it, it’s just happiness giving me that need to return and do it again ! A difficult race, yes, but what luck for me to be in the heart of “my” Landes. It gave me the chance to renew my ties with my childhood and the Landes represents what I cherish the most in the world. Own up, we didn’t participate because it was going to be easy, nor to “grab the bacon” (in Canadian) (Translators note : self adoration perhaps in English) and it’s true that there is only sand. But after a week the notion of sand is just a concept. But we appreciate the sand however, the sand at low tide. (great, really !), the sand on the forest tracks, but we hate the fire breaks. We recognised the good sand by its colour, its anatomy and the bad sand by its dust, etc. Briefly there is sand, you can either take it or leave it, the same as everything else in life.

Well, there you are my mind has already forgotten the less agreeable and has kept what counts and what will encourage me continue !

Not as easy as all that, actually I came thinking that it would be “simple” and I quickly realised that I was going to suffer like a lot of others !

When I’m asked this question, I can’t help replying with a lump in my throat, “the Trans Aq’, is a great sports and humane adventure, from which you don’t come through unscathed either physically or mentally”. Thank you both, and to the whole team, for having allowed me to live this experience. We don’t know what tomorrow may bring, but one thing is certain - the 3 rd June 2007 and Jean-Pierre too. I’ve found you a volunteer helper for the week too (bivouac installer) why not.

I’ve taken with me some of the sunshine, but the sand in my shoes wasn’t enough. The Trans Aq’ 2006 wasn’t perfect but its faults became its qualities making the crossing of the final finish line only more enjoyable.

I made a few mistakes by arriving a little tired and trying to keep to the 2000 kcals (a question of weight optimisation), we really need to eat correctly.

I would like to have said during the prize giving that I had found the same conviviality in this edition with 160 runners as I found last year with 60.

It’s not just the runners, but also the professionalism (well known) of the organisation : road book (magnificent), itinerary (superb), countryside (fantastic), the difficulty (for ultra runners), kindness-availability-support given by the medical team, the volunteers non-runners and runners(who stayed strong in their heads).