From Arles to Santiago de Compostela in two months: Denis Clerc, a Zinzin on the right path
Denis Clerc, la plume de faisan au vent, sur les hauts plateaux des monts d’Orb. DR
Familiar face of France 3 Occitanie, Denis Clerc is also known in the world of trail running under the name of Zinzin Reporter for his videos at the heart of long distance races around the world. But it’s another crazy adventure that he has just started at almost 60 years old. After a romantic breakup, he decided to set out on the road to Santiago de Compostela, via Arles, a 1,700 km journey of introspection.
"Crazy but not crazy", such is his motto. However, the rare walkers who came across him this week on the banks of the Canal du Midi with a pheasant feather stuck in his hat and a twelve-day beard, were able to ask themselves the question. Except those who recognized him.
Familiar face of France 3 Occitanie for having presented the 7 p.m. news for a long time and then the weekly sports newspaper, Denis Clerc is also famous in the world of trail running under the nickname Zinzin Reporter for sharing, on video, the races in which he participates. After the Templars, the first in 2007 which earned him the prize for best sports report of the year, for fifteen years there were the longest and most difficult ultra-trails in the world. The UTMB around Mont Blanc, the Diagonales des fous in Reunion, the Tor des Géants, 360 km long, through the peaks of the Val d’Aoste… "His videos are popular because he is sharing. While he himself performs a performance that is all the more remarkable because he takes the time to stop and film, he values the race of others with sincere empathy and natural good-naturedness, testifies Pierre Toussaint, partner of his first adventures. Even by showing the worst difficulties of these mountain events, up to the moments when he vomits, Denis Clerc made many trail runners want to take part in these races, more than Kilian Jornet or François Dhaene, stars of discipline. And made so many others dream.
On the road to healing
Las, since the summer of 2022, the smile had disappeared, and not only on his films. The fault lies in two injuries, one in the knee which took him away from the mountains, the other in the heart. A romantic breakup. Like many in this case, Denis, disoriented, searched for his way for a long time. He finally decided that the one in Compostela would take him on the path to recovery. "One day, I was walking in the streets of Saint-Geniès-des-Mourgues where I had just settled and I saw a shell, the emblem of the pilgrims, embedded in the stone. Since I could no longer run competitively, I saw a sign there, he says. Especially since the GR 653, the Arles route also called the Via Tolosana, passes under its windows.
30 to 35 km per day
In the spring of 2023, he took advantage of a weekend to make the round trip, on foot, to Arles to collect his pilgrim bib. A year later, at almost 60 years old, he did not deviate from his objective and therefore set off on March 16 with a 14 kilo bag on his back, towards Saint-Jacques -de-Compostelle in Spain, 1700 km further. "I only have one imperative: to be back at the end of May to celebrate my son Robinson's 4th birthday", he then confides, with a tear in his eye. To do this, he will have to walk on average 30 to 35 km per day. A crazy challenge. There are less than 200 of them, each year, who travel the entire "camino" from Arles.