Nearly 180 disc golf players will meet this Saturday October 5 and Sunday October 6, 2024, in Le Mans (Sarthe). “It will be the most important sporting event in terms of the number of players in France for several years,” for this discipline comparable to golf, but which is played with a Frisbee. And in which the discgolfer throws his plastic disc towards the target: a metal basket (or basket).
Ce 5e Amateur Challenge is organized in Étangs-Chauds by the Le Mansgedisc association, created in 2008 and which has nearly 50 members. “In 2021 and 2022, this event was hosted by Spay and Le Mans; then, in 2023 in La Roche-sur-Yon, traces Christophe Legendre, the president of the club. The number of fields that the City of Le Mans makes available to us allows us to further develop this federal tournament. The optimal conditions are there: a course of 27 baskets which will be extended to 36 for the weekend, to accommodate as many people as possible. »
A sport “still too often unknown”
The opportunity, also, to put the spotlight on this sport “still too often overlooked. We are working to popularize it, because we are convinced that it carries essential values: self-arbitration, respect for nature, pleasure of playing… We hope to introduce it to those who walk around the Arch of the nature, the weekend”, wishes the president. The discipline, which arrived from the United States in the 1980s, today has almost 6,000 members in French clubs.
In Sarthe, several free courses exist to practice the discipline. In Le Mans, therefore, but also in Saint-Saturnin, La Chapelle-Saint-Aubin, Coulaines, Saint-Jamme-sur-Sarthe, Saint-Léonard-des-Bois and even La Flèche. Making the department “a central place in disc golf”, according to Christophe Legendre.
The Mansgedisc club also has in its ranks a French champion, Dorian Legendre. “The next meeting will be the French team championship, March 8 and 9, 2025, at Le Mans. Hoping to be able to host a European Championship in the medium term. »
Saturday October 5 and Sunday October 6, 2024, on the site of the Arche de la nature and Étangs-Chauds, allée Pierre-Guédou, in Le Mans. Finals on Sunday from 9 a.m.
