500 km non-stop in Lapland: the new extreme challenge of Thierry Corbarieu, a trail runner from Toulouse

He is preparing to cover 500 km non-stop at free pace in this extreme race in Swedish Lapland. Passionate about trails in polar environments, Thierry Corbarieu, a 54-year-old entrepreneur based in Lagrâce-Dieu (Haute-Garonne), will start on March 3 from the Montane Lapland Artic, in Överkalix in the province of Norbotten, for this running race. who crosses the polar circle pulling a sled weighing 16 kg containing his equipment.

The first Frenchman to have won, in 2023, the Iditarod 1000, the longest race in a polar environment of 1,650 km, the Toulouse trail runner hopes to complete in six days this ultra endurance event which displays a total altitude difference of at least 3 000 m through forests, lakes and rivers, on the trails of Swedish Lapland. The route is marked but often covered in fresh snow and the weather conditions are very harsh with temperatures dropping to -40°.

“We sleep 1 hour to 1.5 hours per night”

“I started trail running in 2005 during the Sables marathon in Morocco, which gave me a taste for these extreme races in extraordinary landscapes,” says Thierry Corbarieu. In 2009, I won the Trans 333 in Morocco in 56 hours, a record that still stands today. It was in 2019 that I started racing in a polar environment, being the first Frenchman in February 2019 to win the Yukon Artic Ultra in Canada with 17 hours in advance. This new polar race in Swedish Lapland will be my last before leaving for a world tour with my youngest son. »

To be up to this new challenge, Thierry Corbarieu trained for months, including pulling a tire for two to six hours a day to simulate the weight of his sled. In addition to running, he prepared his body by cycling and rowing. The equipment and automation during the race were also the subject of special preparation. “We put in almost 20 hours of effort per day and we sleep 1 hour to 1.5 hours per night, so I practice getting into my sleeping bag quickly or mastering my gas stove to melt the ice into water,” explains the Toulouse trail runner who does not bring a tent and will sleep on the ground. “But to face the cold, I was not able to prepare well in the Pyrenees, where the temperatures were too mild…”

Thierry Corbarieu therefore plans to go to Sweden a few days before the start of the race to prepare his body for the extreme temperatures he will have to face. The Montane Lapland Artic is therefore the last race for the Toulouse resident before leaving, in November, to tour the world with his 18-year-old son, Yan, on a 25,000 km route by bike and crossing the Atlantic at the row for 50 to 70 days….