Running with the best - A Day on the trails with François D'Haene
What if you could play a game of Basketball with Michael Jordan in his prime days, ride your bike with the young Eddy Merckx or have a whirl and twirl next to John Travolta?
Joining one of the best in what they can do best is where my excitement came from when I signed up to spend a day on trails and hills with Francois D’Haene.
Although Trail running is a fairly ‘new’ sport, some of its athletes and runners are definitely becoming iconic.
Francois is one of them. As a former physiotherapist, father of three, and wine producer he has an impressive list of achievements in running, ski touring and adventure sports. To date he has 35 victories in Trail running all in world class events, like winning the UTMB not once but 3 times (and improved the course record in 2017!)
Back in 2014 he was the first person to win the world trail tour.
Francois is also known for setting some of the fastest known times such as completing the GR20 in Corsica in just a little over 31h. (For the average person, it’s a fifteen-day hike).
For the last few years, Trakks has invited Francois over to Belgium and this year a few of us lucky runners were offered the opportunity to spend the day running alongside one of the greatest trail runners of our time.
And so on a cold and misty morning I drove down to Malmedy to meet up with about 20 other runners (all clutching their negative corona test forms) – ready to have some fun.
After a short briefing and introduction we were no longer strangers and we set off to do what connects us all - running!
People came from all over the country with similar objectives. To share our passion for trail running, hang out with one of the best, and to learn the tricks to improve up and downhill running in a country where the highest point is barely higher than a molehill.
We ran all day, covering Belgium’s finest trails in the high fens. About 40km of uphill downhill, leg torturing exercises, speed intervals and technique intermezzos. In other words - more than 6 hours of bonding over running: getting excited about shoes and gear, having a lot of laughs, sharing insights and sharing the buzz about races that spark our imagination. All interlaced with small talk about every day life.
Francois is one of the most approachable elite runners out there - entertaining and amusing to hang out with as well as to run alongside. When we reached the very un-alp like 694 meters of height at the Signal De Botrange, he quipped: “Look! Highest point of Belgium and we did it together, without the use of oxygen”
A bit further down the road we had our lunch at the Peak beer brewery, which thanks to its location can also claim the highest brewery in Belgium.
Francois with his passion for wine, gastronomy and the process of producing delicious nectar from natural products was of course very pleased with the choice of venue.
We had the chance to try and rehydrate on ‘the blond’ variation of Peak beer and after our lunch break the atmosphere was noticeably more relaxed….
After more than 6 hours of fun, run, play and exchanging valuable knowledge we arrived back at our starting point.
We had a great running day sparked with plenty of social interaction (very rare these days) but of course it made me wonder how the wine produced by a great champion tastes like.
Well I can tell you…the motivation to write this blog came easier while enjoying the ‘cuvée Germaine 2018 ‘limited edition Diagonale de Fous’ – highly recommended!
So cheers to Francois, and all the other participants that made it an unforgettable experience, to Geoffrey Meuli for capturing the momentand of course to Christophe from Trakks for the superb organisation.
François D’Haene: https://www.francoisdhaene.com
Trakks: https://www.trakks.be/nl