Raid Ouzom

The First Raid Ouzom Is A Sold-Out Success

Anne-Marie Dunhill / 25.10.2016

The first edition of the Raid Ouzom was an outstanding success. The multisport race took place in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques region of South-West France. Teams of two raced either in relay or completed the entire course as a team. The event was so popular that registration was closed two months ago and 290 participants toed the starting line in the tiny French village of Arthez-d’Asson.

The Pyrénées mountain range provides a stunning playground for outdoor enthusiasts and this first edition attracted an eclectic mix of high profile athletes from a variety of different disciplines: triathlon, road cycling, mountain biking, trail running and adventure racing.

The relay format boasted eight teams of elite racers. To cite a few: Nicolas Portal, former professional road bicycle racer (team AG2R, Caisse d’Epargne and Sky) and current Directeur sportif of team Sky raced with Mathieu Letellier who as well as being an accomplished athlete, is also the sales representative of the rising French brand of honey-based energy products, Meltonic. Christophe Agnolutto (professional cyclist from 1996 to 2006 who raced the Tour de France five times) teamed up with Stéphane Auge (former Directeur sportif of team Cofidis and former professional cyclist who raced the Tour de France eight times.) Alexandre Botcharov (former professional cyclist, 1999-2010, eight Tour de France, with AG2R, Credit Agricole and Katusha) raced with Eric Beroujon.

Professional triathlete Camille Deligny (AS Monaco) raced in an all women team with Sophie Soto Barrere (a trail runner who took third place in the Grand Raid des Pyrénées this year.) Pauline Damiens raced in a mixed team with Bruno Damiens; Pauline has won the Pyrénéa race seven times as well as several participations in the challenging Embrunman race.

Veteran adventure racer Bruno Bareille raced in a team with Fabrice Darmaillacq. I spotted Bruno right before the race start as he was wearing a bright green Buff from the beloved Spanish adventure race Bimbache (2008 edition.) He said that he had found his teammate only 5 days before the race start so he wasn’t sure now they would work together but added that he was delighted to be racing so close to home (Bruno is based in Lourdes.)

The French adventure racer Xavier Lumpert (team Aquitaine Safety) raced in relay with Denis Laffaille. Xavier competed in the ARWS race Raid in France in September and in the recent ARES Basque Expedition Race. He caught a nasty bug while racing in Basque country and after a MTB crash during the first night of that race, his team had to withdraw from competition. He said that he was determined to complete this race and to his credit he did, (on the podium!) although judging from his coughing fits at the finish line, he was still quite ill.

The day began before sunrise as the racers left their vehicles at the finish line in Asson and were transported by bus to the race start. The temperature was a chilly °4 and as racers piled onto the buses some joked that they might just stay on the heated buses. While a few made jokes, the faces of the majority of the racers on the buses were tense as they anticipated what the terrain held in store.

The first section was a 14km trail with a positive elevation gain of 1,600m and the second section was mountain biking for 44km and a positive elevation gain of 600m. The starting gun was fired at 08:38 and as the echo of the shots rang through the Ouzom valley, the racers headed into the mountains. The group quickly spread out and quadriceps started to burn as the racers tackled the steep elevation gain.

With sunrise the day began to warm up as the sun played peekaboo from behind the low cloud cover. The transition from trail running to mountain biking was located just below the Col de Spandelles (altitude 1,378m.)

Racers competing in the relay anxiously waited next to their mountain bike for their teammate to complete the trail. A member of the organization, Christophe Capdevielle Honieu Berducou, waited a few meters up the mountain and bellowed out the race bib number of each participant as they barreled past him in a downhill sprint and the waiting pen full of mountain bikes was like a bee hive of activity as racers quickly transitioned.

Of the relay teams, Benat Marmissole had a stellar trail run; he competed the section in 1:50’04: fifteen minutes ahead of the teams’ original time estimation. The duo team of La Cordée de Gavarnie, Baptiste Cazaux and Christian Montuelle also established a firm lead coming off this section. Baptiste and Christian completed the section in 1:58’47; twenty-one minutes ahead of their nearest competitors.

Teams of two transitioned a bit further up the mountain at the top of the Col de Spandelle where their bikes were waiting along with a copious aid station. It was one last steep uphill climb to reach the transition and at least one racer arrived as white as a sheet.

The following 44km of mountain biking from the Col de Spandelles was an extremely fast section on single tracks and cross-country skiing tracks. At the aid station located at the Col du Soulor (altitude 1,474m), the lead women’s team, Camille Deligny and Sophie Soto Barrere, stopped briefly to refuel. As Sophie was chewing on a slice of banana, she casually mentioned that the previous trail running section had been Camille’s first trail race. I was so stunned that I asked her to repeat her remark, certain that I’d misheard her in French! A first mountain trail run with a positive elevation gain of 1,600m for the professional triathlete who’d said prior to the race that she was in her off-season is a remarkable accomplishment!

The race finished in the village of Asson. Showers were available in the village sports center, there was a locale to rinse off the mountain bikes and a hot meal was served irregardless of what time the racers finished.  This was a nice touch as the first relay team finished in 3:43’02 but the last racers to cross the finish line did so in 7:36’49.

The majority of the competitors stayed for the prize giving ceremony at 17:00 and eavesdropping on their conversations it was clear that all had enjoyed the race as the organization had been flawless.

The 2017 edition will take place in a different location in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and congratulations are in order for Franck Evrard and his core team of 11 organizers as well as the 80 volunteers for such a successful first edition.

Full race rankings can be found in the following link: http://raid-ouzom.com/classements-2016/