At the start of the Bordeaux half-marathon, the “iron man” popularized by a song by Obispo

Its tall silhouette has recently been seen at the start of road races in the region and beyond. At the Cap Ferret marathon at the end of October, that of La Rochelle last week and therefore the Bordeaux half-marathon, this Sunday 1^is December. Unmissable Nicolas Lacambre, 40-year-old Girondin, amputated of an arm and a leg since a traffic accident, “February 28, 2008”, and a great lesson in “resilience”, as we say too often.

The man, who lives between Le Bouscat and Andernos, with his sister, is discreet, even shy, but is not completely unknown. “The iron man” celebrated by Pascal Obispo in the song “We are not alone on Earth”, released in 2018, it is him, this disjointed 21 year old kid that the singer picks up in the middle of the departmental 106 , in Las, in Saint-Jean-d'Illac. True story: Obispo was the first to come to the aid of Nicolas Lacambre, a young temporary worker, who was riding a scooter when a car veered into his lane.

“It unlocks the dialogue”

He lost an arm in the accident and ended up having his left leg amputated “a year later”, which was too damaged and eaten away by staphylococcus. The victim and the artist will meet fortuitously at the coronation of the Girondins, champions of France 2009, Place des Quinconces, and begin a correspondence which will lead to the song and a book.

Hardly spared by life, especially in recent years, Nicolas Lacambre has rediscovered himself, equipped with a composite blade, a reason for being in the most difficult road races. Where, suddenly, people's outlook changes, or even better, it lights up. “There is no longer this shock of disability, no more people who are sad when they see us like that, who imagine us suffering, feeling bad about ourselves. They see the athlete, and that unlocks the dialogue. This is what I was looking for, I was locked in this bubble. »

To his credit, very honest times: 4:29 at Cap Ferret, 4:11 at La Rochelle. He grits his teeth, the stump that the prosthesis surrounds hurts him over the miles, but Nicolas Lacambre runs after this encouragement. All you have to do is see him raise an angry fist when, as he passes, the spectators hail him in the name of the “iron man” written on the back of his t-shirt. In other words: “Running saves my life a little.”