73.04km – 9H42’
Altitude : 219m
If every road leads to Rome, there are many that lead to Grenoble and with lots of people on them as we approach this city on our Around the European Union Footrace.
Leaving Chambéry is chaotic, with dead ends and blocked-off railroad crossings but Eliane and René get him back “on the right track” so the stage begins with extra distance, which is of no importance today because Serge doesn’t have enough kilometers. The expression “not enough kilometers” is funny but it’s a fact; serge seems attached to his 75 km per day. The sky is gray, it’s raining.
The flat valley between Chambéry and Grenoble can become precipitous if you turn to the right or to the left. On one side there are the Chartreuse Mountains, on the other the Belledonne Mountains. We chose to follow the mountain on the Chartreuse side, in the sun, which has finally come out on the Savoy vineyards. Then, in early afternoon, we cross to the other bank of the Isère River, at Tencin. We are met by a team from France 3 Haute-Normandie, who have come to film for the sports program which is aired every Sunday throughout Normandy. Pierre, a runner who has followed the race via the website since the start, arrives but can’t see much of Serge, who is busy with the France 3 TV team.
At Domène, we cross the Isère again. Roland, runner and gendarme, comes spontaneously to ensure the safety of the runners, 5 in number who have joined Serge on this heavily traveled road.
Ludo, (our national Lulu) who was with us in the Eastern European countries last March to May, lives in Grenoble and is taking a day off to be with us. It is a good thing because he can be the driver for the TV team, before running a few kilometers on the small road that runs along the highway, and leads us to the Ile d’Amour Park. He went to reconnoiter this road to see if the vehicles can take it without difficulty. Ludo ‘s parents are with him. We haven’t seen them for years and this meeting along the road in Isère is a mutual pleasure. Séverine is also back with her two children.
At the Ile d’Amour Park, Antoine, of CJD, takes over for the remainder of the itinerary, because in big cities it is impossible to guide Serge, who often goes faster on foot than we in our vehicles. At the rendezvous point, there are some 15 runners from different groups: the CJD, the UFF, faithful followers via Internet, such as Jean-Patrick, whom we have finally met, and others.
It is 4:55 p.m. when this group heads for « Grenoble City » in bright sunshine. Due to the stress caused by these followers at the end of the stages, when runners are full of energy as they end the stage, Serge asks me to repeat the following recommendations, which especially apply when the police or gendarmes are not present: Runners must respect the rules of the road for pedestrians: do not run on the streets; do not bother drivers and don’t “swear at them.” stop when pedestrian crossing lights are red and cross in pedestrian crossing. All these rules should be observed but we have observed that it is not always the case.
One last recommendation is not to cut off Serge or other runners and don’t bunch up or run elbow to elbow, or on the heels of the runner in front of you because you risk to fall or to make someone else fall (it was the case for a female runner who fell because, according to Serge, it was a bit of a shambles in the group at the finish in the Loire).
We received a message from Ralph, who accompanied Serge when he arrived in Chambéry. He has been following us on the website from the start. We did not meet him because he disappeared quickly, but he sent us the following e-mail:
« Hi, I promised to join Serge to run when he was in the area.
I did it. I ran the end of the stage in the rain, unfortunately in the rain, which must have been even more tiring for Serge at the end of the stage.
My God, are people undisciplined! I felt very uncomfortable for Serge.
Please ask people to exercise more self discipline; they aren’t intelligent enough to do it on their own.
I saw people slalom between cars, run in the middle of the street and swear at impatient drivers, and all that at rush hour in Chambéry.
People were running 20 cm from Serge, with the risk of having him fall: let him have some space!
Serge looked very tense and upset and I can understand him, so in your log ask everyone to be reasonable and careful. It would be too stupid if an accident were to spoil the end of the long journey.
Good luck, you are close to the finish and thanks again for having taken us on this journey.”
It is worth mentioning that our passage through Grenoble went without incident and there is no reason that things should not continue that way for the last part of the race.
The finish at the Bachelard Stadium consisted of two laps on the track (Serge could have done more but he thought that 73 km for the day were sufficient) with a group of children from different inner city neighborhoods, who were there thanks to the involvement of the “Sports in the City” association. I did not know the mission of this association, founded in March 1998, which is to promote social and professional integration of young people from inner city areas through sports.”
Many thanks to Joël and the Grenoble chapter of CJD who organized this fine finish at the foot of the mountains, which were bathed in sunshine.
For us, the evening is not over, due to the presence of a second TV team, this time to prepare the program « Direct chez Vous ».
Message from Jean-Patrick: « Support the lone runner by accompanying me on the first edition of the Grenoble 24 hour race. You can sign up on www.jeanpatrickbolf.com
Town : Grenoble (Isère)