Vassiviere Island - More Than Ever A Land Of Swimrun

Press Release / 08.06.2022

After a successful first stage in the Gorges du Verdon, the SWIMRUNMAN FRANCE circuit returned to Limousin after a three-year absence due to the health context.  Immersed in the middle of France and in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, this swimrun is traced from island to island in the heart of Lake Vassivière. A race in the rules of the art, echoing the original ÖtillÖ Swimrun events.

The main distance of the day is also labelled ÖtillÖ Merit Race. The teams come here to score big points in order to qualify for the world championships. And the least we can say is that the event kept all its promises in terms of suspense with a tight battle between the best from the very first kilometres of the race.

In this little game, experience will undoubtedly have won. In complicated weather conditions and after strong thunderstorms during the night, it was the fog that got involved in the race, sometimes making the orientation in swimming more difficult than expected. That's the beauty of swimrun.

With multiple victories on the international circuits (ÖTILLÖ and SWIMRUNMAN), Alexis CHARRIER led his partner, Alexis KARDES, to victory after a more cautious start than their direct opponents. It was at the halfway point that they made their effort, taking advantage of the longer swimming sections to create a small and irremediable gap on the competition and cross the line after 4h 01min 20sec.

For a while, Fabien BESANÇON and Pierre MASSONNEAU, who are used to great performances on the world circuits, finally took a good second place after a slightly lower middle of the race, which saw them temporarily fall off the podium. Indeed, it was extremely tight among all these teams. If only 2 min 50 separated the first from the second at the finish after 4h of effort, the rest of the podium was played in a handkerchief. David PESQUET and Benjamin DUPAIN, deprived of the second place for one minute, finally snatched the third place by 30 little seconds from the team composed of Maxime PICAUT and William EVEN.
 
In the women's race, the great favourites Sabina Rapelli and Eugenie Plane, with multiple respective podiums on the circuit and who formed here a new Franco-Swiss duo, dominated the race, relegating the competition far behind. They took the lead from the very first Kilometres to create an irremediable gap, and they even had the luxury to enter the top 10 of the overall classification with a nice 9th place, witness of the incredible level of this duo.

To close this top 10, we find the first mixed pair with Angèle DUHEM and Pierre-Louis SENECHAL who also in their category have left only crumbs to the competition. Not surprising for this pair with multiple national victories.

More than 700 participants took part in this Limousin edition. Next meeting in the Hautes-Alpes, near Embrun Serre-Ponçon, for the third event of the SWIMRUNMAN FRANCE SERIES circuit on June 25 and 26.