It’s quite a challenge that Nicolas Gonçalves and Thibaut Cristovao will soon take on. At 20 years old, they are preparing to travel 300 kilometers on their stilts to raise funds for the Telethon. Departure is scheduled for Saturday November 23, 2024 in Marennes-Hiers-Brouage (Charente-Maritime), to reach Mimizan on Friday November 29 around 4:30 p.m.
For seven days, the two waders will therefore cover on average a little more than 40 kilometers each day, for four to five hours of walking, and this perched 1.10 m from the ground. If these two young people display flawless serenity, Florence and Virginie, their mothers, do not forget to remind us that they “will inevitably have muscle pain”. “But we are very proud that they are walking to support scientific research into rare diseases. »
An urn during the journey
These two stilt walkers who, from a very young age, learned to walk with stilts (at “3 or 4 years old” for Nicolas and “6 years old” for Thibaut) opened a Leetchi prize pool entitled “Big-hearted stilt walkers for the Telethon “. As of Tuesday, November 12, it showed 860 euros collected.
Thibaut Cristovao and Nicolas Gonçalves.
Philippe Salvat / SO
For the start of their adventure, they will be able to count on the direct support of the members of their stilting groups, Lous Landeus from Forges and Lous Yemes from Saubion, since the latter will walk with them for two days. If possible, a following car will also be there. “They will take the Vélodyssée but there will be relay points where we can join them with the car. During their march, they will have an urn. Those who wish will be able to participate in the prize pool,” underlines Florence.
On France Télévisions
With this adventure, it is also a road marathon that awaits the two waders. As soon as they arrive in Mimizan on Friday November 29, they will travel to Paris, with their loved ones, aboard a nine-seater van rented from the Citroën Gauyat garage in Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse. A live broadcast awaits them on Saturday, November 30, around 10:40 p.m., on the Téléthon television set. If their appearance on France Télévisions will certainly allow them to raise more funds, it will also be an opportunity to share their passion and this Landes tradition of stilts.
Philippe Salvat / SO
Simon Gonçalves, father of Nicolas, makes the stilts.
Sunday 1is December, the stilt walkers must be back for the Telethon at the Mimizan Forum. For Nicolas Gonçalves, this long distance traveled on stilts and to defend a cause is not a first. In 2023, with his friend Rémi Lasserre, they left Bias to reach Bordeaux, 125 kilometers covered on stilts, in twenty-six hours without sleeping.
The young men carried out this march to fight against school bullying and fatphobia. There too, a prize pool was launched: 1,800 euros were collected. For this walk, Nicolas and Thibaut, but also their loved ones, hope for more.
Laurence Tiennot-Herment in Biscarrosse
Laurence Tiennot-Herment is president of the AFM-Téléthon (French Association against Myopathies). She will be in Biscarrosse this Thursday, November 14 for a conference at the Le Renoir cinema, from 7:30 p.m.
