325 registered for the 5 km, 706 for the 10, the Epiphany cake attracts more and more running enthusiasts. And, if the records set in 2023 have not been broken, the density in racing is increasingly important. In 14’46” in the 5 km, Yago Moubarik, from CA Balma, a club with a long middle-distance tradition, and whose licensees came in droves, remains 24” from the record for the event. Fourth in France in athletics last summer at the Stadium, with a record of 3’43” in the 1,500 meters, he’s quite a client: “Gaëtan (Cals, winner here of the 10 km in 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024), told me about it, it’s a very good race.”
Among the women, the talented Anne Moulin, from Éveil Mendois, daughter of the organizer of Marvejols-Mende, leaves no chance to her pursuers. “I’m coming back from pregnancy, so I will only go as far as the semi-finals of the French cross country, and I will dedicate myself this summer to the 5,000 meters.” Among the arrivals, the little Ruthenian Juliette Tournier is happy to have beaten her record, and Marine Cathala, 34, who has just taken her license at Ecla, is preparing for the Albi and Barcelona marathons.
In the 10 km, victory went to Nathan Leesmann, from CA Balma. This high-level triathlete, part of the French team and military world vice-champion, is preparing for the World Cup in China in May: “The course is very nice here, and there is a great atmosphere.” For Mélody Julien, this easy news, victory despite three races the previous week, will lead her to the Seville marathon at the end of February. After a post-Olympic slack, we are happy to find her radiant again.
Hail on track
Like the beautiful story of Anne Moulin and her baby, we also find the striking, sometimes moving, stories of each person’s life. Jérôme Bernard, from Saint-Juéry, is a triple amputee. Both of its legs are Hopper blades. “I was at the initiative of creating this company in Albi, which offers prostheses for running,” says Jérôme Bernard. Today, Valentin, recently injured, is going to do his first race with a blade. ” What can we also say about Michel Granizo, 88 years old, who completed his 58 thousandth kilometer of running this Sunday, and who saved himself from drowning last week, after falling to the bottom of his well. His eyes are still red, and he will go see his wife, today at the village nursing home. He never stopped coming up from the shafts to see the light of day, after 26 years at the bottom of the mine in Cagnac, and 6 years in La Tronquié. Everyone, by practicing running, opens another window to life in their own way.
