Enduroman: Arnaud de Meester has received the green light!

Three years after his first attempt, Arnaud de Meester (51) is back on the Enduroman, this “extreme triathlon” created in 2000 by the Briton Edgar Ette and whose figures really make you dizzy: 140 km on foot between London and Dover, 35 to 45 km by swimming to cross the Channel and 290 km by bike between Calais and Paris. Quite a challenge. In 22 years, they are, in fact, only… 51 to have succeeded, the latest being the Australian Andrew Keegan, on September 18, after 91 hours 41 minutes of effort!

The Brussels ultra-triathlete has (finally) received the green light from the organizer. With his team, he left for London, where he planned to start his journey this Saturday evening, at 11 p.m.

“The miracle is not that I finish… It’s that I have the courage to start!” had launched Arnaud, on October 21, 2019, starting from Marble Arch, in London, to join the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris. What about the “miracle” of seeing the ultra-triathlete try his luck again?

At the time, after running more than 25 hours between London and Dover, and swimming almost 14 hours across the English Channel, Arnaud had given up as the French coast loomed.

“I did not succeed but, for me, I did not fail either. I say that it is not a failure because I have a good memory of this experience, even if I did not complete my journey.”

It is true that the circumstances were unfavorable to the now director of the Forum du Sablon, who fell on the barrier of Cap Gris-Nez, a current 3 km from the coast pushing him back out to sea.

“Right from the start, I had bad luck being misguided out of London and then having to wait for an hour in the middle of the night for the organization’s car which had lost me to road works. and also during the walk in the incessant rain After 25 hours of effort, I arrived in Dover, where I slept for an hour before setting off from the famous Shakespeare Beach to cross the English Channel. “

After 14 hours of swimming, Arnaud had come to “die” in the “swimmers’ cemetery”. All these setbacks did not prevent him from thinking about trying his luck again. From 2020, it was already ready to relaunch, but the health crisis prevented it.

This time, it’s well and truly gone! We cross our fingers for him because this crossing of the English Channel, with its currents and its tides, is never an easy task. For 75 years, the success rate has been only 20%! And most often, of course, without the 140 km of running beforehand…

To follow the evolution of Arnaud de Meester >https://enduroman.com/live-tracking