Audrey Virgilio had an equipment problem during the Swiss Canyon Trail in early June. The Neuchâtel resident explains how she reacted and what to do when bad luck slips in like a pebble in a shoe.
Audrey Virgilio is a big name in ultra trail running, a discipline which consists of covering long distances on trails that previously only mules could overcome. The 34-year-old from Neuchâtel won in 2023 on the Swiss Canyon Trail and she really wanted to do it again, at the beginning of June in Val-de-Travers, on this event which hurts the joints just by looking at the map.
The route, located northwest of Yverdon-les-Bains, winds over 114.8 km with an elevation gain of 5294m. “The change in altitude is merciless, the visual rewards endless,” boast the organizers.
Audrey Virgilio was at the start of the event on June 8, but everything did not go as planned. Firstly because the Neuchâteloise came across someone stronger than her (she finished 3rd in 13h17 behind Marianne Hogan and Manon Bohard), then because a stupid incident, which can happen to anyone, left her slowed down shortly after halfway (she was at the 65th kilometer), “when I was in the most difficulty”.
“Like 90% of trail runners, I use foldable poles,” she recalls. However, to unfold them, you have to slide a metal part which, this time, did not open correctly on one of my two sticks. »
In this image, taken before the technical incident, we see the place where the system did not work (red circle). Image: Jonas Bloque
Audrey Virgilio had nevertheless taken the usual precautions. “As had already happened to me in the past, in training and in competition, I got into the habit of greasing the sliding parts of the poles. I had actually done it before the Swiss Canyon Trail, but it was obviously not enough.”
The Neuchâteloise should have given up, put away her “seized” stick and moved on. But she had a reaction that, with hindsight, she regrets.
“The mistake I made was that I wasn’t very resilient when it happened. I got upset trying to open this stick. I spent a lot of energy trying to solve this problem, and it somehow put me a little in the red before the climb to the Chasseron. But when you’re in an effort, with adrenaline, you don’t always make the right decisions.”
Audrey was, however, able to continue her race.Image: jonas blocks
The athlete therefore put his defective equipment in his bag (the regulations specify that it is obligatory to keep both poles with you, even in the event of breakage) and climbed the Chasseron with only one pole. “It was there, we might as well use it,” explains the woman who sees in this material a real help provided to trail runners.
“Sticks are valuable in competition. Moreover, it is when they are banned, like on the Diagonale des fous in Reunion, that we measure all the help they give us. Suddenly something is missing. Without them, the support is different, the flexions on the ankles too, etc.”
It is to benefit from the help of her equipment for as long as possible that Audrey Virgilio travels with several spare “parts” when traveling on an event: two pairs of shoes, two sunglasses, two shorts etc. and therefore, two pairs of poles, which she transmits before departure to the people waiting for her on the course at the authorized refreshment points. “I was able to swap my pole later in the race and finish the Swiss Canyon Trail the way I started.”
It is in anticipation that the leaders of the discipline stand out, but not only that: knowing how to put a “mechanical” incident into perspective must also be part of the range of the best. “You have to be able to tell yourself that there are so many things that can go wrong in an ultra, like bad falls, injuries or stomach problems, that if it’s just a damaged pole, it’s okay! »
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