The 37^th edition of the 24 Hours of Rouen was marked by terrible climatic conditions. Of the 40 competitors from 10 different nations who started at 5pm on the Saturday, half retired within the first five hours because of the ceaseless rain, violent wind and icy cold (it rained for nearly the entire race)

Frenchman, Alain Costils, winner of this race in 2004 & 2005 dominated the race from the start to finish with a new race record distance of 207.35kmAmazingly, winner Alain Costils beat his own race record, established last year ,with 205,500 km. Reputedly he looked fresh as he crossed the finish line. He has now won the last 3 editions of this event and will be a force to be reckoned with in the 2006 Paris-Colmar classic.

U.S.A. walker Dorit Attias arrived at the start line less than 10 minutes before the gun. Dorit had been denied boarding a flight from New York the previous day as the airline had double booked. It took a lot of work by Francis Herbet and intervention by the French Ambassador in the US to get her on a flight the next day. When she did arrive in Paris on race day her luggage was missing. A quick stop a sports store to purchase shoes, running gear and a warm all-weather tracksuit was needed before she finally arrived at the race venue. She barely had time to change before the race started.

The race started on time at 5pm with a group of about six or seven, which set out at a solid pace, began lapping me regularly over the 725 metre loop. The race was held in the old port area of the city on the River Seine .The old warehouses are in the early stages of being re-developed into shops and restaurants. Of the two warehouses in the middle of the circuit one is a wine cellar and the other is used as a second hand market or for car-boot sales. On the river side there is a wide walking path and there were joggers going past late into the night, even in the rain. During the night we saw lots of cargo ships, barges and a huge cruise ship sailing up the river.  A very busy road bordered the other side of the course. There seemed to be a continual procession of police and ambulances with sirens blaring going up and down this road all day and night. There was a bar and a nightclub on the other side of the road that stayed open until about 4am when the police arrived. This provided some entertainment during the early hours of a long and soggy Sunday morning.

 The weather turned bad soon after the start.  First it was a light drizzle then strong gusting winds followed by continuous rain into the early hours of the morning. The bad weather caused a high attrition rate of competitors as the night wore on. The gusting winds blew over some of the steel crowd control barriers and most of the crews were forced to pull down their tents and marquees. Francis Herbet later remarked to the press that it was the worst race conditions experienced in this race since 1971, when it snowed. The common drink station had to be re-located off the course in the sheltered of side of one of the old warehouses. This meant that those like me that didn’t have a crew had to leave the course and go into a tent everytime we required a drink or some food. Some of the competitors retired to their caravans for the evening when the rain didn’t abate after many hours. The race recorders sat in a van with the windscreen wipers going all night and fighting to keep the windows from fogging up

. Many competitors called it quits during the night with some returning for the final few hours on Sunday afternoon. For some of the top competitors who had another 24 hours race two weeks later (Bar-Le-Duc) they decided it was not going to be their day so they settled on a 100 km ‘training walk’.

and finally, Peter writes:

Lessons from the race.

• Don't attempt a 24-hour race straight after a 25-hour flight

• A bucket of coffee and a few croissants is not good fuel for a long race.

• Don’t use this story as a ‘How To’ if contemplating doing a 24 hour event.

• Make sure you have organized a crew to look after your food, drinks and your well -being. By the time the athlete realizes that they need
   something it is far too late. A water bottle on the ground and a packet of jellybeans is no substitute. How many times have you heard a walker acknowledge that without his support crew he/she would not have recorded the result they had just achieved.

• Discovered new and unimagined pain thresholds and levels of extreme fatigue. When you first think that you are exhausted and are at the end of your tether you are just starting to discover what you are capable of pushing on to.

• Camaraderie of the walking community knows no boundaries (geographical or language). The race re-inforced my view what truly wonderful and inspirational people make up the walking community. A fine group of determined people who see challenges not problems and who look out for and support each other.

• It does not follow that your wife will be thrilled that you are going to Paris without her for Easter.

Peter Bennett (C24)