Disability: “In tandem, we are dependent on someone”… Catherine Mignard participates in the 22nd edition of the Tour de l’Aude

Aged 58, Catherine Mignard, visually impaired since she was born with retinopathy pigmentosa, has participated for several editions in the Tour de l’Aude organized by the departmental committee Handisport de l’Aude. She will take her place on her tandem accompanied by her pilot from September 17 to 20. “When I start something, I see it through to the end,” says the Carcassonnaise with a warm look.

Also read:
When sport becomes a tool for inclusion

A great thirst for challenge

The sportswoman with the bright and sincere smile got to know the Handisport Committee through her involvement in the Entre Vues Audoises association (editor’s note: association for the visually impaired in Aude), where she was a committee member. When the tandem session was created, “Why not try it?” she said. “I was one of the first participants with my pilot Yves Voisin (editor’s note: designer and director of the Tour de l’Aude stages), who I didn’t know before. We started the tandem together, and now it’s been 15 years. He knows my temperament, and I need projects and challenges. We climbed the Aude passes that I would never have felt capable of doing if he hadn’t pushed me. Yves Voisin is not just a simple pilot, we have formed a strong friendship, he is a friend, my confidant and my guide”, she says emotionally.

“When we are in tandem, we are dependent on someone. I may ask a lot of the people who accompany me, but in an unknown place I see nothing, and I need to be accompanied”, specifies Catherine Mignard. For personal reasons, Yves Voisin will not be able to ensure this edition. Catherine Mignard will be on her tandem with a new pilot.

Also read:
The Tour de l’Aude Handi Sport stops off

In addition to the tandem, Catherine Mignard is also involved in swimming. “During my youth, I lived with my family until I was 25. I didn’t play sports, but if I had, I would have started competing, that’s for sure. I like the challenge of individual sports, I do it for myself to have a better view of myself. I don’t need to register, Timothée Quesada, project manager for the Handisport Committee, automatically registers me for the new editions,” she confides.

“The most complicated thing is not the number of kilometers but the lack of sleep.”

This bubbly woman explains that “the most complicated thing is not the number of kilometers but the lack of sleep”. In total, during this 22nd edition, 300 kilometers will be covered. “The ideal is to train in advance, because we have schedules to respect. Schools and children are waiting for us with drawings for the activities”, she rejoices.

Also read:
Great success for the last stage of the Tour de l’Aude “handicapped”

This year, 1,000 children are waiting for the participants. “It’s friendly, and for me, awareness is the most important thing. It is through children that the world will change on disability, we will trivialize it thanks to them. Even today, people are looking at my white cane, and it is not trivialized. Children do not have the delicacy of an adult, they say things as they are and I appreciate their innocence”, explains Catherine Mignard.

During these four days, some of the municipalities welcome the fifty participants and volunteers to eat at lunchtime and in the evening. “The municipalities welcome us with open arms, it’s very warm,” she concludes, impatient to start this Tour de l’Aude.