Dince September 2023, the journey up the Charente river estuary, organized by the Rotary Club Tonnay-Charente Estuaire, has as its godmother Véronique Prouteau, a multifaceted para-athlete from Châtelaillon. Considering his needs to participate in numerous sporting competitions, the members of the Rotary Club offered him sponsorship for the year 2024, according to an agreement…
Dince September 2023, the journey up the Charente river estuary, organized by the Rotary Club Tonnay-Charente Estuaire, has as its godmother Véronique Prouteau, a multifaceted para-athlete from Châtelaillon. Given his needs to participate in numerous sporting competitions, the members of the Rotary Club offered him sponsorship for the year 2024, according to an agreement signed on Monday May 13. Before signing the agreement, Véronique Prouteau looked back on her journey since her accident in 2016.
“Suffering from algoneurodystrophy (1), the doctor told me that I would no longer be able to walk or run like before. » But Véronique could not bring herself to live in a wheelchair, the only perspective offered by the medical profession. Aged 33 at the time of the accident and mother of four children, the last of whom was 7 months old at the time – and in whose eyes her mother is a “wonder woman” – she did not consider this prospect for long. After “mourning my previous life”, she moved on to: “Don’t limit your challenges, challenge your limits”.
Many challenges
A state of mind which has allowed her to take on numerous challenges: para-canoe athlete with the Club Nautique Rochefortais (regional champion of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in 200 m sprint; vice-champion of France in 5,000 m marathon; bronze medal in the French championship in 200m sprint); champion in the novice category during the first world edition in 2022 of wind tunnel/windtunnel skydiving in the Handifly category with the French Parachuting Federation.
His next challenge? Véronique Prouteau is registered for the “Marathon for All, Paris 2024”. For her, who absolutely cannot rely on her right leg, running is with a PMR scooter. However, the basic concept is not adapted to a sporting activity. Véronique Prouteau is now equipped with a “competition scooter”, a prototype developed with and by Reinier de Quelen and his teams within the partner company HYD & AU Automation in Saintes, based on a basic PMR scooter.
Many people think that disability remains in the chair. So I explain
In her daily life and the preparation of the sports competitions in which she participates, Véronique is supported by her husband Emmanuel and her children, by her sports coach (canoeing) Tony Nogues (Club Nautique Rochefortais) and her coach Christophe Statera (mental and physical preparation). This extraordinary personality fights every day to break the image of disability: “I am refused entry to supermarkets because of my scooter. Many people think that disability remains in the chair. So I explain. »
In his projects, the organization of a “handi solidarity raid” to demonstrate to the rally organizers who closed their doors to him that nothing is impossible. Tanguy Coureau, himself disabled, host of “Hadisport Go” on France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine on Saturdays, will follow Véronique Prouteau on August 10 during the 2024 Paris Marathon for All: “I was impressed by her challenges. » Véronika Tornade, her nickname on social networks, has not finished making people talk about her.
(1) Persistent, disabling pain affecting a limb after an injury or operation.
