Toulouse: Guy Amalfitano, the man who runs on one leg always further
This Tuesday, the exceptional sportsman, Guy Amalfitano passed through Toulouse as part of the Ultra Run France Tour, i.e. 12 regions crossed in France, running on one leg for one hundred days. Report.
This Tuesday evening, Guy Amalfitano has just arrived in Toulouse aboard his motorhome driven by Gaston, a pure Canadian. Stationed at Place Wilson, he invites us to come aboard to recount his extraordinary daily adventure that started on Friday. Guy Amalfitano, an outstanding runner, takes part alone, running on one leg, in the Ultra Run France Tour challenge: “I decided to take up a new challenge, he explains with a smile. That of covering 5000 km in hundred days, i.e. crossing twelve regions of France, supporting an association at each stage”. In Toulouse, it is “Soutenir Toujours” which comes to the aid of war-wounded people in particular. The Ukrainian news is not very far away… On a hint, Guy admits: he doesn’t like to run “I do it to raise funds and help cancer research. That’s my mission “. At the same time as this collection, Guy also goes out to meet people, curious and delighted to approach an athlete with a steely mind.
He climbed the 1665 steps of the Eiffel Tower in 17 minutes and 35 seconds!
A native of Orthez (Pyrénées Atlantiques), Guy was stricken at the age of 17 with cancer which condemned him to the amputation of a leg “a terrible shock”, he admits. the TV on my hospital bed, Terrance Stanley Fox, Canadian sports activist, crossing Canada from coast to coast with his artificial leg, for the benefit of cancer research, I realize that we can face adversity and move forward.” Sport has always been at the heart of Guy Amalfitano’s daily life: “Before the illness, I was crazy about athletics. More particularly high jump, long jump and pole vault. Disabled with one leg, he never there was no question of me stopping”. After the operation, Guy embarked on ski racing. Barely out of the hospital, he is on the snowy slopes and joins the French Ski team a few months later. “I participated in the Olympic Games in Innsbruck in 1984, Calgary in 1988, and Albertville in 1992, among others. I wanted to win my place”. Then it was table tennis: he even created a club with his father. In 2009, a new twist of fate came to stop him in his tracks: during a freestyle session, he fractured his 3rd lumbar: “After 6 months of inactivity, I started running to get back in shape. . I don’t know then that I’m going to take the fight that far.” He remembers the exploit of his hero, Stanley Terrance Fox. He too wanted to run to attract media attention and raise funds for research. Guy then multiplies the records, the performances, always runs faster, more intensely. He even joined the Guinness Book of Records with in particular the “Marathon of Hope” in 2011: a 4,000 km tour of France and the crossing of 39 departments. “The restraint of this race made it possible to collect 30,000 euros”. New record in 2016 with the 2nd edition of “La Verticale de la Tour Eiffel”, an uphill race, which consists of climbing the 1665 steps of the Eiffel Tower as quickly as possible. Guy, nicknamed the kangaroo, does it in 17 minutes and 35 seconds! In 2017, this solidarity champion decided to pay tribute to Stanley Terrance Fox, his hero. It crosses Canada from Saint John to Vancouver. A journey of 7128 km, carried out in 173 days of racing which raises 10,000 dollars.
Does he derive any glory from these exploits? “Not at all. I don’t expect anything from these performances except the progress of research”. He also says to accept the suffering of his body “we must overcome the pain”. Surrounded, Guy remains a loner who prepares his journey with meticulousness: “I don’t allow myself to be fancy during this race: get up at 4 a.m., leave at 6 a.m. and run until evening between 5.30 p.m. and 6 p.m. I need “to be in a bubble. Sometimes, the external solicitations are too strong and move me away from my goal. I am a human, first and foremost.”
After Toulouse, it will be Castelnaudary, Marseille, Valence, Strasbourg, etc. Always running, always faster, always stronger. “The public that awaits me at each stage is a precious support. Some give me gifts, lucky stuffed animals, others want to accompany me in this infernal race”. Guy does not think about tomorrow. He lives day to day. On one leg. Always longer. The spirit turned towards the cause he defends and for which he runs, runs out of breath.
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