“We will toughen the race”, promises the organization

The Chartreuse Terminorum will return next year with a more difficult course. Facebook Charterhouse Terminorum.

Like the ultra-trailers scattered in the forest of the Chartreuse mif, he hasn’t slept much. Founder of the Charterhouse Terminorum, the hardest ultra-trail in France with a course of 300 km and 25,000 meters of elevation to be completed in less than 80 hours, Benoît Laval has closely followed the performance of the forty or so competitors at the start this year. The features drawn on arrival, he welcomed with open arms Sébastien Raichon, the first athlete overcome this challenge (in 71h26) since the creation of the race in 2017 and all its pursuers.

“We are very happy that a runner has overcome the Terminorum. We have always said it: this race was doable and the runners were convinced of it.», Explains the founder of the Raidlight brand. “This year, everything was in place to obtain very good performances. The course was as tough as the previous editions. There was very good weather, with no storms or extreme heat and a field of very high level athletes. To name just him, Sébastien Raichon had already signed extraordinary performances before coming here.“, adds this former member of the French ultra-trail team.

Read alsoUltra-trail: “The third night was hell”, first athlete to defeat the Chartreuse Terminorum, Sébastien Raichon recounts his feat

Benoît Laval (left) with Lazarus “Laz” Lake, the founder of the Barkley from which the Charterhouse Terminorum is inspired. Picasa

Like the entire organization, Benoît Laval quickly realized that the 2023 edition would be a victory for one or more candidates. “The pivotal moment is always the end of the third lap, but we quickly saw that it got off to a good start from the start with a high density of riders. And after three loops, noting the state of form of the runners and observing their faces, we said to ourselves that it would go to the end“, Details the boss of the event.

We’re going to set the bar a little higher by adding a bit of elevation here and there.

Benoit Laval

The Charterhouse Terminorum has been defeated. A myth has fallen. How will its future take shape? “The objective has never been to make a race impossible but rather to have a winner. Our ambition is to have an event with 1% finishers. With the five winners of this year, we go up to 2%, it is still an acceptable rate“, smiles Benoît Laval who promises a more difficult test in 2024. “We are going to toughen up the race. It is the history also of the Barkley (the American ultra-trail from which the Chartreuse Terminorum is inspired) which has been made more and more difficult over the years. We’re going to set the bar a little higher by adding a bit of elevation here and there, for example. He only has to bend down in Chartreuse to help himself. We will probably make the course a little wilder in less frequented placesconcludes one of the four heads of the organization.

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