Eugène and Olympe Marès will bring to life Free Midday their experience, next February.
Christmas vacation? Olympe and Eugène Marès, two young guards aged 21 and 22, got their hands partly dirty, in the literal sense of the term. In the hood of their vehicle, tinkering with their thirty-year-old 4L. Or to close the budget with sponsors, between Christmas and New Year's Day. Because in a little over a month, the great adventure awaits them. They will participate in the 2025 edition of the 4L Trophy. This great race, which needs no introduction, has brought together thousands of young people under the age of 28 since 1997 for a two-week raid across Morocco, their luggage loaded with supplies for children.
Eugène and Olympe are brother and sister, both engineers. He studies at the EPF in Montpellier (formerly the École Polytechnique Féminines). She is at Centrale in Marseille. “Before my last year of school, I decided to take a gap year, says Eugène, to carry out the projects that were close to my heart. Among these, there was the 4L trophy. Many friends had told me about their experiences. It was on my mind.” The choice of partner is obvious: it will be his sister Olympe. They both get along perfectly and spent their high school boarding school together. “And we have a bit of the same way of working.” notes Eugene. “The humanitarian dimension was also important“, adds Olympe.
Know how to use a compass
Still, to be up to such a challenge, you have to tick certain boxes. First, find a car. “We found a 4L Savane that was just 30 years old, explains Olympe. It has 180,000 kilometers and has never done the 4L Trophy.”
Then you have to know how to tinker with an engine. Not too complicated for future engineers: “We're pretty resourceful, but we're new to mechanics. The 4L is easy to understand by diving in, remarks Eugene. There, upstream, we had to carefully prepare the underside of the vehicle, to adapt it to the desert, make joints, change the seats, modify the ignition…”
The VRP part is also important: finding sponsors, the cost of participation requiring several thousand euros. Finally, you must equip yourself with bivouac equipment… without forgetting a good compass for the journeys. Because for the 4L trophy, no GPS! “We are guided by the roadbook and the compass. It should be fine, I was a scout! And I have already done raids…”laughs Olympe.
The pre-departure will be given in Biarritz on February 19, for a free connection to Algeciras in Spain, a passage of the Strait of Gibraltar by boat and, finally, six stages in the Moroccan Deep South. Arrival is scheduled for February 28 in Marrakech. Until then, good preparations!
A columnist crew for Midi Libre!
Because Eugène and Olympe Marès are not content with living an exceptional adventure for their own experience, they wanted to share it. In partnership with Midi Libre, the duo will publish regular columns from 4L Savane from February 19 to March 3. To be enjoyed very soon…
