We had met them in 2023, there were two of them. Emmanuel, and his “coach”, Laurence. On Saturday, there were about fifteen of them running for and with the same Emmanuel, who has Down syndrome.
Among the 4,812 runners at the start of Les Foulées roses, one team among many others. But different…
The “Emmanuel and his kids” team took the start of the 5 km on Saturday, around his “coach”, as he likes to call her, surrounded by his colleagues from some of the Jolies mômes hair salons in Eure. A solidarity around Emmanuel who, since the creation of these Foulées, has participated in them.
Last year, he told us that he would participate in two charity events during the year: the Foulées roses and the Telethon.
Within the Foulées roses de Chartres, a pair like no other…
“I run for my grandmother, always in my heart, and for all women”, breathes Emmanuel on the starting line. Encouraged by his teammates for the day, he completed the 5 km but “it was steep. It was a new, much more difficult course.”
Next stage, the 5 km of the Chartres Half-marathon, in March 2025.
Between pétanque, zumba and running, Emmanuel follows his own path. But it’s at the heart of a team that he “has a blast, because there’s a great atmosphere.” The evening did not disprove him, he celebrated his 36th birthday with “his kids” who, without a doubt, will be even more numerous for the 2025 Foulées.
Emmanuela carrier of Down syndrome, met Laurence at the Jolies mômes hair salon in Chartres, where she did his hair. For about twenty years, they have shared a solid and reciprocal friendship that propels them into small running races, “never more than 5 km”. He, who lives in a studio, in a home, in Champhol, is becoming more and more independent within a loving and supportive family, made up of parents who are ex-teachers and an older sister. And, when he runs, he frees himself from the gaze of others who sometimes “hurt” him.
Laurence Gélineau
