Endurist. From London to Paris, the immense feat of Caennais Jean-Charles Harbonnier
By Aline Chatel
Published on
If you come across Jean-Charles Harbonnier on the street, you are unlikely to see him as a superhero. No bionic mechanism appears in this smiling man with a rather ordinary build. It is however an extraordinary performance that he achieved between July 4 and 7, 2022.
Mind-boggling distances
This adopted Caennais reached Paris from London after 135 kilometers of running in the south of England, 57 kilometers of swimming in the cool waters of the English Channel and 290 kilometers of cycling to the Arc de Triumph. Since its launch in 2001, only 46 participants before him had managed to complete the Enduroman. They are only three to have achieved a better time than his: 55 hours and 50 minutes.
Jean-Charles Harbonnier, originally from Valenciennes, a whole of the perfect UFO. This high intellectual potential, according to the portrait offered to him on Sebmena.fr, was far from imagining himself as an extreme performer when, at only 24 years old, he oversaw 450 people in the audiovisual sector. He was then in charge of broadcasting sporting events such as the London Olympics. Three years later, shortly before giving a new direction to his professional career, he completed his first ultra-trail.
Up to 30 hours of training per week
In 2019, Jean-Charles Harbonnier was used to long efforts when he fell – without looking at her before having done so, a principle at home – on a video by Marine Leleu. A few months earlier, she had been the first Frenchwoman to complete the Enduroman. “I was looking for a last challenge to end my intensive sports career,” says Jean-Charles Harbonnier. When I applied, I was very naive…”
I said to myself: “oh, it’s ok, you’re doing ultra-trails, it’s going to be easy”. As I met people who had done the Enduroman, I became aware of the reality.
Selected in 2020, Jean-Charles Harbonnier trained between 20 and 30 hours a week for a year and a half under the guidance of another finisher, Dany Perray. “I stopped working in September 2021 to devote myself to my preparation. It was above all the crossing of the English Channel that scared me. For good reason, “JCH” only swam occasionally at the start.
A well-run race
Before putting on the wetsuit – and not just the swimming trunks as is the English tradition, it was still necessary to complete the 135 kilometers of running. For those accustomed to steep paths and grandiose landscapes, “the time was sometimes long” on departmental roads “sometimes ultra-glaucous”. On the other hand, the level of difficulty turned out to be rather moderate, hence the average 10 to 12 km/h.
I managed my running well. I arrived fresh, even if I had exploded quads.
The big meeting of this immense challenge was going to ring after 4h30 of recovery. La Manche was waiting for Jean-Charles Harbonnier. “I had to follow a boat, whose pilot calculated the best route based on the currents and the 450 boats that passed each day. » A swimming board allowed the swimmer to be refueled very regularly, but it was out of the question to put a single hand on the ship which opened the way for him.
“Mental fracture” in the English Channel
Once, however, the temptation made itself felt. In the seal bank, the name of a contrary current very close to the French coast, Jean-Charles Harbonnier experienced the same “mental fracture” that he had already experienced in training. ” I broke down. I said to myself: ‘well, the ladder is not far away…’” Stuck for an hour and a half almost at a standstill despite all the energy deployed, the Northerner did not give up. Crossing the Channel is perhaps his only personal pride.
Emotionally and physically, it marked me a lot. I dreamed about it for a week. I slept very badly because I was non-stop in the Channel.
For nearly 15 hours, Jean-Charles Harbonnier struggled with the cold, the schools of jellyfish (“as the water was very clear, I saw them pass!”), the waves left over 600 meters by the huge container ships, the salt that attacks the skin and loneliness. “You remake the world, you sing… You always have to be positive. With each arm stroke, you think of someone, you say their name…”
In Calais, these names were familiar faces, relieved and happy to welcome the hero of the day. “I wanted to take the time to share this moment with them. If they hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have done anything. It’s really not an individual feat. The Enduroman, the company and those close to Jean-Charles Harbonnier also accomplished it in their own way, managing all the logistics from the motorhome, car or boat.
The bike, almost a formality
Arrived in his native north, Jean-Charles Harbonnier treated himself to a solid breakfast and an eight-minute micro-nap. The hardest part was behind him in the early morning. “I still didn’t have a good head when I got back on the bike,” he smiles. A few valleys, cold, hot and finally a dynamic pedal stroke: “the bike went by so fast, it’s incredible! The effort, however, left its mark.
To get off the bike, there is one that carried me and the other that supported the bike.
More than the legs, however, it was the buttocks that suffered. “Once seated, it’s fine. But the 15,000 fires in Paris, the cobblestones… Oh hell, my ass hurt! “But at one o’clock in the morning, Jean-Charles Harbonnier was more worried about keeping his supporters waiting at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe than about the pain that could grip him. “We had said that I would arrive between midnight and one o’clock in the morning, it bothered me… not to be on time.” »
“The meaning I give to Enduroman is sharing”
Twenty minutes later, the enthusiasm of the fifty watchmen was obviously intact. After two and a half days and two and a half nights of effort, Jean-Charles Harbonnier had accomplished his incredible challenge. “When you arrive, you forget everything! “, “Since the descent is gradual” and personal projects avoid the blues of the aftermath. Jean-Charles Harbonnier, who raised 17,000 euros thanks to crowdfunding to carry out his project, is now wondering about the follow-up to be given.
The first question people ask me is: why are you doing this? I’ve always wanted to make sense of the Enduroman. At first, I thought of an association for ecology. I did not find what suited me. The meaning I give to Enduroman is to share it.
That’s good, Jean-Charles Harbonnier loves to tell about his ultra-trailer journeys. On YouTube, his channel has nearly 20,000 subscribers. The videos of his adventure will be released in September. At the same time, the 30-year-old is preparing interventions in the homes of the Salvation Army, which has supported him financially.
Back to normal life
In October, Jean-Charles Harbonnier takes the start of a 75 kilometer race, a scramble, to “return to normal life”, “not to suffer from sporting depression”. By then, the general fatigue that still grips him will have disappeared, just as the pain in his arms disappeared after about ten days. And after ?
People ask me what will be the sequel, but there is not always a sequel. At some point, we can also stop.
Jean-Charles Harbonnier will forever wear the number 47, he the 47ᵉ finisher of this extraordinary race. “I get personal satisfaction from it, of course, but I’m more into the idea of sharing than bragging about it. I’m just happy and grateful to my team. We had a great adventure. Jean-Charles Harbonnier had not come to suffer. He found in the Enduroman what he was looking for. The human occupies the first place.
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