Saint-Louis Festival in Sète: the barrel rolling competition between sharing and good laughter

Ronan Kerbiguet in his works. The FO crane operator was untouchable in front of the auction, where he outclassed all his opponents. Midi Libre – Patrice Espinasse

The barrel rolling event attracted the crowd in front of the auction, this Sunday, August 25 in the evening. After an hour and a half of conviviality and good laughter, it was crane operator Ronan Kerbiguet (FO), from the “union you need”, who dominated the CFDT colleagues from the “union you like”.

Have you ever tried to run 50 meters alongside a barrel that you hold with both hands and that you move forward simultaneously by pushing it on its edge?? No? Well, train yourself if you ever have to take part in the Saint-Louis barrel rolling tournament, organized by the Copains d'abord.

As the great Georges would have said, it is no easy feat to hold a barrel in the middle of the asphalt. Dockers and crane operators from the port of Sète, via their union, have tried. In front of the auction, this Sunday, August 25, at 7 p.m., FO, “the union you need” was opposed to the CFDT, “the union you like".

Each representative did their best. In a game of genuine laughter and under a benevolent jury chaired by André Lubrano, it was a question of demonstrating skill because several hundred people were gathered around the barriers to watch the 2024 challenge.

When the winner shares his lot with the loser

But in this game, if there were the skillful, the less skillful and the abandoned, there was above all a knight of the barrel: Ronan Kerbiguet. The FO manager of the port of Sète accompanies the barrel like Benjamin Arnau wields the lance in jousting. One by one, his opponents broke their teeth, including his colleague Franck Linarès in the final.

But the main thing in this crazy competition was obviously not in the performance, despite the brief moment of glory present, but in the sharing. Ronan Kerbiguet has also applied it by winning the equivalent of his weight in wine from the Puech Haut estate: he promised to share with the valiant defeated colleagues of the CFDT.

José Llinarès and Les Copains d'abord will donate the profits from the competition to the association Les maisons du cœur.

The participants competed in elegance to roll the barrels, when the latter were not too capricious. Midi Libre – Patrice Espinasse

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