It is Tuesday evening and the sun brightens the spirits of the fifty athletes from Stade Brestois Athlétisme present at training that evening. We are five days away from the 2nd round of Interclubs, where the Finistère club will enter three teams, one in Vannes, and two in Saint-Renan. With 39 events, where two men and two women must be registered per team, Benoît Lurton, the aerials coach, is finishing racking his brains to “plug the holes”.
At the same time, he gives some valuable advice to Flavie Monot, the sprinter, who is involved in jump training to prepare for interclubs, where she will be competing in the triple jump. Because that’s the interclub spirit. “Some must make sacrifices”, and therefore practice, for the duration of a Sunday, an ordeal that they do not know at all.
“Sunday, I throw the javelin. The last time I did it, it must have been in minimals,” laughs sprinter Élise Le Bourhis. Ditto for his training buddy, Noah Barrot, converted into a shot putter “because I am capable of lifting 100 kg on the bench press”.
Hurdles session
Examples, at the Stade Brestois Athlétisme, as in all Breton clubs, there are dozens. Like the young Élise Le Menn and Gabin Guivarch, half-distance runners, converted into 400m hurdles runners this Sunday. Alongside their session on Tuesday, they pass a few hurdles. On the first rehearsal, Élise Le Menn fell in the first, under the amused gaze of her trainer. However, in the first round of Interclubs, everything went well. “I’m still used to crossing barriers, because I do steeplechase all year round. » A discipline which is not practiced among women in this competition. Today’s training will therefore be beneficial for Sunday.
And like Gabin and Élise, most of the athletes at Stade Brestois who will be aligned in a “new” discipline train at least the week before. “I do one or two sessions to get my bearings and try not to bite,” describes for example the neo-triple jumper, Flavie Monot.
“Important to do it seriously”
Just like future throwers, who want to work on their technique before the big day. “The throws must be technically correct. So you have to be careful not to do zero,” warns Noah Barrot, for example, who has planned one or two sessions during the week.
“It’s important to stay at our level, so we still have to do it seriously,” says Élise Le Bourhis, the day after her first javelin training in a long time.
Stade Brestois is traditionally a runners’ club. We therefore need to find people to complete the jumping and throwing competitions. And headliners or classic athletes, everyone is in the same boat. And will take advantage of the incredible atmosphere that animates the interclubs to transcend themselves, and break records that they have not defended for years.
