76.45km – 10H07’
Altitude: 386m
The stage for October 16: Montargis – Fontainebleau (the itinerary will be posted online later)
Finish October 17 at l’INSEP – Avenue de Tremblay, 75012 Paris
There will be no stage between cities
Serge will enter l’INSEP around 9:00 a.m. and will run on the track in the INSEP until 11:06 a.m. He will be accompanied by everyone who wishes to run these last two hours of the Around the European Union Footrace, and celebrate the 365 days of the race. L’INSEP will wish to see an identity card for everyone who wishes to enter the site.
If yesterday was calm, today is a lot less, especially the last third of the stage.
At 6:37, it is dark when Serge starts, wearing his headlamp. He is also wearing a cap and gloves complete the runner’s gear. At km 18 Mickaël and Thierry arrive from Brive-la-Gaillarde and accompany the caravan to the end. Mickaël ran the Arcueille 24 hour race last weekend and Thierry is going to run the Royan 24 hour race next week. Mickaël has followed us via Internet since the start and we have exchanged many e-mails. His messages of encouragement, which reached us in the farthest parts of Europe, have acted as fuel, not only for Serge but for the whole team.
At Vic-le-Comte, everything speeds up. Arnaud, of CJD, comes to bring T-shirts for us to give the kids of the Jeanne D’Arc de Saint-Médard-de-Guizières School. These young people filled their e-mails with so much good humor and energy, as well as amusing stories that we have been laughing since school began this fall. Since the stage Le Fieu-Bordeaux, these children have followed us without a break and very seriously. They even came to run with Serge after Toulouse. Vincent, the Physics professor and Babeth, head counselor of the school, made it possible for these children to join us again, with friends and Marianne, who with her first grade students, composed a notebook on the subject of the Around the European Union Footrace. So Esteban, Pierre, Baptiste, Wilfried, Kalvin, Pauline, Bastien, Axel, Kevin, Mohamed and Damien will form a relay for 20km and then will all be together to run the last 5k with Serge and, as “Guest Star,” Elvis Vermeulen from the Montferandaise Sports Association. Serge and Elvis, side by side are like the oak and the reed. Elvis will take part in photo and autograph sessions because the kids are fans of this athlete, who is as enthusiastic as he is charming.
The Clermont chapter of CJD orchestrated every detail of this ambitious finish on the Place de Jaude, in the midst of different events. It was a real success. Arnaud, Christophe, Dominique and the other young directors were all present to give a hand, to a point that we were really spoiled, which was good for the morale. Even the rain, which began at 2:00 p.m., could not extinguish the sunshine we felt in our hearts and minds today.
Our thanks go to all the actors on this marvelous day, with the visit from Alain P., Principal of the Jean-Renoir School and Alain M., muscles professor, (who ran 27 km with Serge and the children). They both came on a friendly for an informal visit in order to tell how they have organized logistics for the stage on October 12. I know this is stressful because it is an ambitious plan but I won’t tell you everything this evening.
France 3 Auvergne came to talk to us and the journalist “rolled” his car into a ditch. So Thierry became the driver while a solution to the problem was found and the interview could continue without hindrance all the way to Clermont.
It was a rich and rewarding day and tomorrow will be another; the point in common with the previous 359 days being that it will take place on the road.
The Puy de Dôme is barely visible under a layer of cloud.