Off-road The most Saint-Etienne of Lyon trail runners will participate for the second time, on the night of December 3 to 4, in the oldest nature race in France (78 km and 2,050 m of elevation gain)
For his first participation in the SaintéLyon event, Baptiste Chassagne finished the 78 km night event in fourth place in 2019. — SaintéLyon Extra Sports
- Every other Thursday, in its “Off-Pitch” section, 20 Minutes explores new spaces for the expression of sport, unexpected, unusual, clever or in full swing.
- This week, we are devoting our attention to the SaintéLyon, the doyenne of outdoor races, the 68th edition of which will take place on the night of December 3 to 4 between Saint-Etienne and Lyon.
- Extremely attached to the two cities, trail runner Baptiste Chassagne (29) tells what this mythical 78 km event means to him, which he hopes to win for the first time next week.
The waking dream by Baptiste Chassagne will it come true for good, on the night of December 3 to 4? This 29-year-old trail runner from Lyon assures “thinking every day” to the SaintéLyon, a terrible night race of 78 km (2,050 m of elevation gain) starting from Saint-Etienne at Sainté 11:30 p.m. to reach Lyon, most often in dantesque conditions. “The thing that fascinates me is seeing that this is the 68th edition,’ Ç has a tremendous sense of being the doyenne of nature racing in France, as Liège-Bastogne-Liège is in cycling.” It is difficult to find a better symbol than Baptiste Chassagne to embody the strong identity of the company. of SaintéLyon.
This one was born to Lyon and he still lives there today. All while going very often to Saint-Etienne, town where his parents and grandparents are from. It is besides the proof that one can have passed all his childhood at; Lyon… and supporter of ASSE. “I know that I have a bipolar tendency because I love both cities, smiles Baptiste Chassagne. The real opposition is between OL and ASSE. My father took me to at the age of 3 in the North Kop of Geoffroy-Guichard, so ç in me a magic universe around the green people. I’ve been subscriber with Magic Fans for almost 20 years.”
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In November 2018, Baptiste Chassagne won; the Holy Urban Trail (33 km) wearing a jersey well known to Saint-Etienne supporters. – PRO 64
Discovering trail running through his driving school teacher
To punctuate it all, it’s the discovery of the SaintéLyon which prompted him’ to move towards trail running, during his studies in political science. And this through discussions with Emmanuel Meyssat, his driving school teacher at; Vaugneray (Rhône) during the winter of 2015, and vice-champion of France in trail running in search of a first title on the SaintéLyon (he will win the 2016 and 2017 editions). “At the time, I only played club football, and as soon as he spoke to me’ of SaintéLyon, çgave me want to run in the middle of nature, remembers Baptiste Chassagne. Ça has clearly crashed. a little seed in me.” From “hobby” until 2017, his approach became “semi-professional” in 2018, when he joined Team Sidas-Matryx.
Unsurprisingly, the most Stéphanois of the Lyonnais therefore found himself again. before that among the 17,000 participants of the SaintéLyon in 2017, in relay. In 2018, he reached a milestone by winning the SaintExpress (a “only” 44 km formula), before tackling the challenge. his Holy Grail in 2019. On the podium until’` 400m from the finish, he finished the event fourth for his first participation, in 6h04, at 6:04. only ten minutes behind the winner Cédric Fleureton. Close to realizing his dream from his first try, Baptiste Chassagne must then take his troubles patiently, between the cancellation of 2020 due to Covid-19, then a stress fracture preventing him’ to start last year.
Since the beginning of my career as a trail runner, there has always been SaintéLyon as a red thread. I found myself caught up in the magic of this hyper-popular race, and I promised myself to run it until the end. what I win her one day. I feel lucky to have a heart race. I’m very close to it but it refuses a little to me.
In front of Mathieu Blanchard on the Lavaredo
That”s why he plans to “reconcile” with her next week, after being satisfied in 2021 from a volunteer role on a supply station, from 5 to 10 10 a.m. to; Soucieu-en-Jarrest (Rhône). “We all know that Baptiste dreams of winning his heart race, says Thomas Janichon, his manager at Team Sidas-Matryx. He is also very close to the organizers, and all of this must allow him to have an extra soul on the SaintéLyon, and not that çit inhibits him.” In any case, Baptiste Chassagne is coming out of a big 2022 season, at the end of the season. the image of his fourth place in March on the Transgrancanaria (126 km and 7,500 m of D +) in Spain, just like in June on the Lavaredo (120 km and 5,800 m of D +) in Italy, ahead of Mathieu Blanchard (5th).
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As on the Transgrancanaria and the Lavaredo, Baptiste Chassagne was the best-ranked tricolor trail runner, last August on the CCC at Chamonix. – Chris ALONSO URREA
Finally, he obtained in less than 11 hours another Top 10 on the CCC (100 km and 6,100 m of D +), one of the major races of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB), in August ;t at; Chamonix. All while ending at; each time as the first tricolor in the standings. Performances that earned him a first call-up to the French trail running team for the world championships in November in Thailand.
“At night, you feel more animal”
But “burnt” through this intense year 2022, Baptiste Chassagne preferred decline, to devote himself to this new season, which therefore begins at; Saint-Etienne on December 3, with the next Worlds in Austria in June 2023 in sight. He comes back to the specificity. of SaintéLyon, less prestigious and formidable a priori than his three biggest challenges of the previous season.
There are a lot of elite runners who don’t finish this race. It’s often guys from the mountains who say to themselves that SaintéLyon is the countryside and it’s all flat. At night, we feel more animal and more vulnerable. It’s not the best runner who wins the SaintéLyon but the one who has a crazy motivation, and who best manages deep loneliness. Because if you don’t know why you’re here, when you get to Sainte-Catherine after 4 hours at running alone at night in the snow, I understand that you are digging.
Sainte-Catherine? No, we’re not talking about the mythical rue à agrave; bars, at the bottom of the slopes of the Croix-Rousse (Lyon 1er), so popular with students (and even Mick Jagger), but from a village in the Monts du Lyonnais where a December night often rhymes with icy air, ice, or even snow for its most extreme editions. An ideal playground for our regular. of these trails, who trains about 20 hours a week, in parallel with his activity. professional to serious; the head of the communication agency 40 BPM. What is ultimately the room for improvement for the 29-year-old trail runner, whose “high-level approach” is recent?
A podium on the UTMB by 2025 ?
“Baptiste has only been running for six years, and it’s hard to find. understand its limits, explains Thomas Janichon. It’s not passed through athletics. He’s not a raw talent but a hard worker.” And so a runner destined to to thrive in ultra-trail, at To believe his 2022 season and the words of his manager: “He holds high racing values for a very long time. On the CCC, for example, he climbs three bumps of 1,000 m in height; positive to the same speed after 80 km of testing as at the 20th km.” The interested party is in line with this career evolution towards the ultra: “My qualities are revealed over long distances, when the race becomes a real game of chess. There, I still have a course to go. overcome to go from 14 hours of effort to 20 hours. But I set myself three years to get a podium on the UTMB [171 km]. ”
Our Off-Terrain file
A life goal of ultra-trailer incredible, out of all proportion to the prospect of reaching the Halle Tony-Garnier first, on December 4th in the early morning. “La SaintéLyon is far from having the aura of the UTMB, but winning it would really be a consecration for me, concludes Baptiste Chassagne. Winning a UTMB changes a life, but winning a SaintéLyon çit changes the life of a Lyonnais…”