TESTIMONY. He will try to complete the Saintélyon ​​after overcoming harassment and obesity thanks to sport

On the night of Saturday 30 to Sunday 1 December, hundreds of participants will set off to try to reach Lyon to Saint-Étienne in the cold and the night. A legendary race in which Sylvain Dhugues will take part for the second time. The young man, beaten and harassed until adolescence, has come a long way and sees in sport an outlet for past evils.

By the time many are in bed, they will be at the Saint-Étienne (Loire) exhibition center. In these hangars, in the middle of the night from Saturday November 30 to Sunday December 1, an army of headlamps will prepare to cross the cold of the night for the 70th edition of the Saintélyon, an 82 kilometer race, in the middle of nature.

On the starting line, Thomas Cardin, outgoing winner and in the form of his life, Antoine Charvolin, his runner-up last year who has great ambitions, Baptiste Chassagne, the French long trail champion in 2023 who made the Saintélyon ​​his priority and Sylvain Dhugues, 24 years old, who aims… to finish the race.

Bib 5707 on his chest, this Montpellier resident had already set off on this formidable race, in 2021. While he had dreamed of it for several years, an injury prevented him from completing the adventure. Affected at the 22nd kilometer, after slipping on a patch of ice and tearing his hamstring muscles, he will push 21 more kilometers, before handing in his bib halfway. “His biggest sporting disappointment” to this day. But not enough to damage the morale of this young man with a more than fragmented life journey.

If Sylvain runs today, and pushes his body to its limits, to the point of hurting himself… it's to do himself good. As a child, he was immersed in a brutal family environment with a father who was violent towards his stepmother. Sylvain then plunges into obesity and suffers mockery and harassment throughout school. It is his meeting with Vincent, “the only one who held out his hand” and their discovery together of the sport which will contribute to its renaissance. “Sport saved my life” he sums up soberly.

Sylvain starts running, to escape, and gets a taste for the effort. The one who was nicknamed “Fatman” dreams of “Ironman”. And he becomes one, by completing this XXL triathlon three times. But today, Sylvain fears Saintélyon ​​more: “This race scares me more than an Iron Man and it’s even harder to go back when you know how you’re going to be eaten” he smiles a few days before the race.

It would be a huge accomplishment, I've often thought about this race for five years and I want to cross that finish line.

“This race is legendary in fact. I discovered it five years ago, I went there to encourage a friend and I ran the last fifteen kilometers with him, rembobine-t-il. After my abandonment in 2021, I returned there a year later to accompany Vincent, provide him with assistance and give him supplies. This year, we’re reversing the roles.”

For this second attempt, the 24-year-old has not set himself any time objectives, but several progressive objectives. First, pass the 30th kilometer, “where many people give up”. Then, cross kilometer 45, the one where he himself had given up. And finally cross the finish line, in Lyon after 82 kilometers of effort.

“I know the course, I remember the hardness of the event. It can be very cold, snow… But that's also why it is legendary, in relation to the conditions. There will be no surely no snow this year, I hope we can see the stars It must not be common on Saintélyon.

On the journey, Sylvain intends to enjoy the drone show on the first kilometer. Before putting yourself in your bubble for the rest of the course. Perhaps he will have time to think of the 10,000 people raised during his Tour de France of commitment, undertaken since January 2024. A personal initiative, to inspire young people and people with disabilities and obesity. In front of them, he recounts his journey, avoiding no detail of his psychological or physical suffering. But also takes the time to talk about his reconstruction through sport.

I am convinced that it helped a lot of people, believes the Héraultais today. Young people write to me every day. I have in mind a kid who spoke to me about her eating disorders but also about her feelings of guilt. She couldn't grasp the outstretched hands when people tried to help her. Since then, she has managed to reconnect with others.”.

In 2025, Sylvain will continue his awareness-raising activities throughout France. Always to tell his story, his difficulties and his victories, hoping to be able to add one, that of having seen the stars then crossed the finish line of a legendary race.