On Monday, June 17, 14 students from the ULIS (localized unit for school inclusion) program at Vercingétorix College and four chaperones left by bus for Poitiers to participate in the French adapted youth para-athletics championships. They joined more than 400 other athletes from all over France.
On Monday evening, at the campsite where they were staying, comfortably installed in their mobile home, our 14 athletes fell asleep stressed but confident.
By 6:45 a.m. on Tuesday, everyone was up to eat lunch and get ready for the competition. At 8:30 a.m., in the magnificent Paul-Rebeilleau athletics stadium, Ms. Aussaresses led a group warm-up to prepare for the three events scheduled for the day: long jump, shot put or vortex throw, and sprint (50 m or 100 m).
The day was long, stressful and tiring. In the evening, the results came in and gave real hopes of medals for many of them.
Wednesday morning, same hours. The heads are tired. On the program, 800 m or 1,000 m. Everyone gave the best of themselves and all drew on their resources, physical and moral, to achieve the best possible performance.
The results speak for themselves: 3 gold medals for French champions: Basile Anduix-Hulin, U12 M; Cynthia Marques-Philipe-Davet, U12 F; Alvyne Ridjali, U16. 1 silver medal: Raphaël Fostier-Sevin, U12 M. 3 bronze medals: Ayden Courrech, U12 M; Melissa Dahrouch, U16 F; Martim Nunes-Moreira, U14 M.
“Congratulations to the medal winners but also to the other students who did not disgrace themselves and who had a great competition,” concluded Barbara Cousin, the principal.
Small bonus at the end of the championship because an afternoon and an evening at Futuroscope awaited them. Enough to forget the frustration and fatigue!
