A student from Alès will run 100 kilometers in the Alps to fight rare diseases

En septembre, Titouan Le Gourrierec a terminé les 70 km de l'ultratrail de Nice. DR

Étudiant à l’IMT Mines-Alès, Titouan Le Gourrierec, 23 ans, va participer à un ultratrail autour du Mont Blanc pour soutenir la lutte contre les leucodystrophies, maladies rares qui touchent le système nerveux.

Titouan Le Gourrierec hasn't done trail running for a very long time. But enough to have already accomplished some sporting feats, to which he wants to provide another use.

Second year student at IMT Mines-Alès, this son of Breton is following a general engineering course. But, during his free time, he took advantage of his presence in the Cévennes to run in the massif.

Last September, the young man managed to complete the Nice Côte d'Azur trail and its 70 km course. A success that opened the doors to a more seasoned circuit: the 100 km of the CCC, one of the three major ultratrails that crosses the Alpine massif, around the roof of Europe. The race will take place from August 26 to September 1.

100km for a good cause

“In this trail, we find world champions of the discipline”, specifies Titouan, who does not hide his pleasure of sharing this starting line with high-level athletes. However, the top of the podium is not his goal: “Finishing the race would be nice!”

For him, beyond this personal objective, the issue lies in three letters: ELA. An acronym to name an association that wants to fight against leukodystrophies. These rare genetic diseases, which affect around forty children each year in Europe, destroy part of the nerves. Which gradually causes paralysis. The illness does not concern him directly, "it’s simply because my mother is in this association, and they are strongly committed to helping research and the sick.& ;quot;

A hereditary solidarity that Titouan seeks to share with as many people as possible. In order to support his race, the young man opened an online prize pool on the site cagnotte.ela-asso.com.

From Italy to France

CCC is the abbreviation of Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix. Three cities in three Alpine countries: Italy, Switzerland and France. The race, first "little sister" of the Mont Blanc Ultra-trail, has become a reference and is a reality, for the most experienced, in one day . No planned stops on the route, just refreshment points. Currently on an internship in Latvia, Titouan Le Gourrierec is trying, à every free time, to train for D-Day: "Latvia is a flat country, but I take the opportunity to focus on the distance !"