MEETING WITH FRANÇOIS AND CARLINE D'HAENE

 

One hundred kilometers, over 7000 meters of ascent, 2 nights in a bivouac: this is the challenge that some forty teams of three trail runners are ready to take up by participating in the second edition of the Ultra Spirit in September 2023. This race, which has become emblematic since its first edition, offers an alternative format to the major classic trail races, while maintaining a high level of sporting performance.

 

Ten years ago, François and Carline D'Haene were already involved in unique experiences. Lovers of the mountains, they share their free time between long-distance races and bivouacs, armed with their backpack, tent and stove. They are keen adventurers, and enjoy planning their own outings, mapping the GR20 or crossing Reunion Island, and spending every evening of their honeymoon deep in the comforter in the freezing cold.

 

It was this taste for adventure that accompanied the two trail runners throughout the creation of this unique event. Tired of hearing about ultra trails only in terms of the number of participants, and not enough about the sporting feats they represent, they wanted to return to the roots of trail running, to the authenticity of adventure. Accustomed to big races, François feels that today they lack authenticity and that there's a window of opportunity to create an alternative experience. So how do you combine long distance, sporting challenge, bivouac, team spirit and mutual support? That's the challenge François and Carline set themselves, surrounded by partners who are experts in their field, who believed in the project and wanted to uphold the same values.

 

For the first edition in September 2022, the 40 teams carefully selected by the Ultra Spirit organizers met up in the heart of the Beaufortain to complete this unique trail, which includes activities to strengthen team cohesion and deepen runners' knowledge of their environment.

 

 

Blueberry picking, swimming in frozen water and Beaufort cheese tasting are just some of the activities that add points or penalize participants according to their success. It's also, and above all, a way of reinventing the trail, the aim no longer being simply to do sport, but to spend three days in the Beaufortain, meeting the people who live there, discovering the specialities offered by local farmers and cheesemakers, with the ongoing involvement of local people who know this territory better than anyone.

 

François and Carline hope that this experience will leave a lasting impression on the runners, empowering them and giving them a different approach to future races. The first day of the Ultra Spirit immediately immersed participants in this spirit: the distance announced at the start of the first stage was twenty kilometers, suggesting a two-hour event. In the end, it took the runners eight hours, which encouraged them to take a different approach to the experience of mountainous terrain, to refocus on themselves and to approach race starts differently.

 

Ultra Spirit is not just a race that promotes a different vision of trail running. It's also an event conceived and designed to have a positive environmental and social impact. In terms of carbon footprint, running big races on the other side of the world several times a year just doesn't ring true for François and Carline. They want to do things differently, to reinvent themselves, and feel that the time is right, that people are ready. This is also the opinion of their partners, who share the same values and who supported the project even though no edition had yet been produced. They "helped out", getting involved both upstream and on site, which was essential, as François explains, particularly for the bivouac.

 

Samaya has embraced the values of the Ultra Spirit and joined the adventure by offering to take care of the entire bivouac during the race. No less than sixty BASECAMP expedition tents from the 8K range will be set up and dismantled by Samaya throughout the event, to follow the runners during their race. A good night's sleep in a bivouac is an essential step for runners, as weather conditions are not always the most clement over the weekend. The BASECAMPs enable participants to be protected from the rain during the night, to benefit from a little warmth despite the fatigue and the frost, to strengthen the bonds within the team and to enjoy authentic moments of life.

 

Finally, Carline and François created the race they wanted to take part in. In a bid to go even further, they are keen to involve the local population even more, by organizing climate frescoes, mapping and orienteering activities that highlight the values of team spirit, communication and mutual aid, values that represent the spirit of Ultra Spirit. Commitment to sport, conviviality and ecological awareness will therefore be the watchwords of this second edition of the race, and Samaya will be there once again!