Renaud Lavillenie wants to see life in pink
The second edition of the Toulouse Capitole Perche will take place on September 16 and 17, 2022 on the emblematic Place of the pink city in the form of a ” street meeting during the ordered course, several of the best authors on the planet will compete, starting with Renaud Lavillenie, but also young students and the general public. Focus on this unique event!
Something to end this long but superb summer season in style. Place du Capitole in Toulouse will be transformed into an athletics track on the weekend of September 16 and 17 for a big pole vault meeting. After a great first edition in 2021, Henry Maitre, the organizer of the event, wants to surf on this great dynamic with the same objective: to promote and celebrate athletics.
“A unifying approach, popular and open to all”
Two years from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, it’s time for promotion. And what could be better than a “Street meeting” to introduce the public to the most spectacular discipline in athletics? What’s more, in a magnificent setting with the Place du Capitole. To do this, the organization has planned a 1000-seat grandstand, set up in the middle of town, so that the most curious can attend a unique event, completely free of charge. Moreover, these same curious people can learn about pole vaulting thanks to the workshops offered and supervised by volunteers or even by some athletes themselves. ” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has said loud and clear that he wants and pushes to democratize athletics by organizing track and field events outside the Stade de France as part of the 2024 Paris Olympics and we are totally in this scheme and in line with this vision. This allows us to reinforce our Toulouse Capitole Perche development project with a unifying, popular and open to all approach. »
A meeting accessible to all
It does not stop there, since schoolchildren, middle and high school students, to end this back-to-school season well, will relocate their PE lessons to Place du Capitole to take advantage of the facilities, advice and setting offered by the event. Toulouse Perche Event is also a meeting between educational sport and associative sport around common values. ” We have this strong desire to transmit. In addition to the two international competitions, we want to bring athletics to life through pole vault initiations with primary schools, two colleges and a high school in Toulouse. We will promote the athletes of the department and the region with regional competitions. »
Supported by many partners
For these two days to go as smoothly as possible, the organization can count on valuable support: that of local authorities. ” We want to reward the local authorities, the city of Toulouse, the department and the region as well as the SATUC athletics club for their support “. Toulouse is a sporting city, and the town hall ensures that each of its inhabitants can access sport, by supporting 500 sporting events a year, including this Toulouse Capitole Perche Meeting. Another major partner, the Occitanie region. Labeled “Terre de Jeux 2024″, the region is active in sporting life by being present in many meetings. The opportunity is also to present and taste local products with their “Sud de France” food-truck. Every event needs volunteers. For this, Henry Maitre can count on the club of the pink city, SA Toulouse UC, which is participating in the logistics of this weekend. As for the atmosphere, several speakers will be present to animate these two days, for a real moment of celebration. ” The particularity of the event is that the spectators are close to the two vaults, less than 3 meters away, which gives a real proximity to the pole vaulters. We have a public from Toulouse who are seasoned and passionate about sport. We call that the 16th player here, it will give athletes chills and we know they need that to go very high. Toulouse is the European capital of aeronautics and space, here we like the altitude and we appreciate when it flies high! »
Beautiful people on the saltire
Several competitions will take place: A departmental level competition, a regional, a national and then to finish in style, an international competition bringing together a 5-star cast with several stars of the discipline. In the last named, will be present in particular Renaud Lavillenie, Valentin Lavillenie, Anthony Ammiratirecently second best U20 world performer in history (5.81m), Thibaut Collet, Baptiste Thiery, Marion Lotout, Margot Ch.February and Elina giallurachisas well as the American Chris Nilsen, Olympic vice-champion in Tokyo and world vice-champion in Eugene. It is a mixed competition composed of a total of 8 men and 6 women. As in a classic competition, each athlete has three tries to overcome his bar, which will obviously go up little by little. Like the Elite Tour pole vault, these same athletes will set off with the music of their choice, and with a nice “clapping” from the public, for even more atmosphere, and end this summer of athletics with the most beautiful manners!
” It is a real pride to have the presence of Renaud Lavillenie. When you think of pole vaulting, you immediately think of him. We know he’s in good shape. We want the crème de la crème, Armand Duplantis is an alien. From an athletic point of view at the moment, he doesn’t like running on this type of too bouncy track. In any case, we will be very happy to welcome him to a next edition. Chris Nilsen who does us the honor of coming back again this year, proof that he liked the 2021 edition. A second American accompanies him, Jacob Wooten who holds a record at 5.90 m. We are happy with the women’s field with a high density, despite Marie-Julie Bonnin’s injury to the U23 Mediterranean Championships Last weekend. It’s a satisfaction and a chance to count among the best tricolor pole vaulters like Margot Chevrier. »
The program
Friday, September 16, 2022:
- 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. : Introduction to pole vaulting with primary schools
- 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. : PE lessons with college students
- 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. : PE lessons with high school students
- 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. : Departmental competition and initiation on supervised workshops
Saturday September 17, 2022:
- 9:00 a.m. : Regional Competition
- 12:00 p.m. : National Competition
- 3:30 p.m. : International Competition
All day: Public introduction to young and old on fun workshops in the “Athlé Découverte” area
More information on on www.capitoleperche.com.
Text : Briac Vanini
Photo credit: Leo Berret / STADIUM