The concept of the Maxi-Race of Annecy - theater of the World Championships of trail 2015 - is exported. After Ecuador this spring, it is China that organized, this 26 November, a race under the flag of the great annual Mass from Annecy, France. 63km, 4600m of positive elevation on a particularly complicated terrain: we went to test the trail, Chinese style!

Brutal. It is 5:30 in the morning in the Chinese night. Of the 20 ° C expected by the Maxi-Race team, the thermometer struggles to display 7-8 ° C. Raining cats and dogs, it has been raining continuously for the past 24 hours.

The first three kilometers of road were able to dissipate the modest squad of this first trail organized in the mountainous region of Jiangshan. It is 5:35, the two big favorites of the race - the winner of the UTMB 2016 Ludovic Pommeret and the rider, and team manager Salomon, Grégory Vollet - are already far, out of reach (except perhaps for the Japanese Sota Ogawa), and we bifurcate on the first single track of this long “Way of the Cross”. 63km for some, almost 110km for the others: the Maxi-Race China 2016 begins.

"Maxi-Race" races all over the world

To grasp all the dramatic intensity of this moment, let us go back a little. How did it happen to organize a Maxi-Race race in a region as little known for its outdoor activities as the Jiangshan Province?

The organizers of the race around Lake Annecy wanted to export their concept. MaXi-Events - the company that has now subordinated the association that previously organized the Maxi Race of Annecy - has seen the big picture. Several events each year can take over the concept of what today tends to become a brand in its own right in the world of trail. This spring in Ecuador. Today in China and certainly tomorrow in New Zealand and South Africa.

But what is the Maxi-Race concept? What makes it different from another mountain race format? Not much actually. The organizers put forward a guarantee of quality that the riders could find by participating in any race of the brand, wherever it is organized in the world. Indeed, it must be said that the Maxi-Race China 2016 did not suffer from logistical problems or marking. We also point out the technical course that will be the prerogative of the races of the circuit. Again, promise held: the route, drawn by the local organizers of the event and not by the French team of the Maxi-Race, was intransigent.

"We're soaked. Mud is everywhere. "

And it did not take long for the 250 participants to realize: 5:43, the start was given barely 20 minutes ago and we are already in the heart of the matter. A small path goes straight up to the top of the first bump. No zigzag. Progress must be made on the slope. We notice a few steps drawn by the French openers a few days earlier. And we understand then that they were themselves a little surprised by the verticality of certain portions.

We only guess these steps, because the heavy rains and the passage of dozens of runners have already largely begun to erase them. It slips a lot. But we manage. More or less. Many participants cling to the branches, grabbing roots here and there. Oh, of course, there are falls. Inevitably. We fall one after the other. We are soaked. Mud is everywhere. It's still dark, only 5km away from the starting line. It's cold. And there is still so much to do.

Complicated conditions ... maybe a little too much?

"It was for me more a" trail-adventure "with some passages similar to a " trail running race ", assumed the winner of the race, Grégory Vollet. Greg Vollet is a connoisseur. He traveled the trails of the whole world for many years with the trailers of the Salomon Running team.

"To propose a technical course was part of our instructions to the local organizers. They actually have very little experience in the race course, "explains one of the French openers of the race. "We came here a few months ago to show them the type of trails on which we wanted the course to pass. And it must be said that they played the game thoroughly ... "Maybe even a little too much? "They are not in the habit of drawing trails with a mountain profile. They may have placed the cursor a little high, "concedes the young man. Especially when one of the main objectives of the maneuver is to make discover the practice to local runners unaccustomed to the rigors of the trail running.

Extremely inclined trails, small narrow ancestral trails (cleared for the occasion), long sections of paved roads - millennia - but for the occasion made very slippery. Thirsty for adventure? You will have your account. And then at the 30th kilometer, began the "aqua-trail". After the third supply, the trail crosses a river at dozens of places. "In normal weather, it is easy to cross them by staying dry, going from rock to rock ...", continues the opener. But we were not normally on November 26th: the rocks were all immersed. And it took the few dozens of racers still racing at this point of the course, to cross more than 50 times in the course of the river. One more reason to start dreaming about a good hot bath.

Browse 60km on ancient trails at a price

The price of sweat. Because this Maxi-Race China was a hecatomb. More than 60% drop-outs. Should we blame the organization? Absolutely not. Where comfort stops, begins the real adventure of trail running. To traverse these sublime bamboo forests, to guess these emerging verdant valleys in a few moments of a tenacious mist is well worth a few efforts. What a change of scenery.

Although we know they are in the process of extinction, we start to scrutinize the bamboo in search of pandas. We shall not see, of course, the more so as the rigor of the steep descents constrains us to permanent vigilance. But participating in a 60km trail is also a luxury in the literal sense of the term.

We cross many villages on the course. The faces sometimes puzzled, sometimes enthusiastic - but always benevolent - of the inhabitants of the region are there to remind us. We are in a shock of cultures. That of a two-speed China, where one wonders how these city trailers, better equipped than many Western practitioners, can still maintain any social bond with the inhabitants of these remote little villages? Funny encounters. How can this villager "in rags", picks up on the shoulder, harrowing his goose so that it deviates from the course, can he understand the motives of these runners with the equipment overpriced? Sport remains a luxury. This is even more striking than elsewhere.

The finish line, finally

It has been six hours since Grégory Vollet crossed the finish line as a winner. A 60km that is won in 8:20, here is a final indicator of the complexity of the challenge Maxi-Race China. At 19:50, 14:50 after the first stride, I finally stop running. I've had my account for a long time. I am the 19th to cross the line: for most participants, the road is still long. 129 riders will be classified, and given the conditions, the time barriers will not be applied to the letter: the last participant to cross the line will have acquitted the course in nearly 23h. Brutale Maxi-Race China!

原文链接：

http://m.lequipe.fr/Adrenaline/Tous-sports/Actualites/Brutale-maxi-race-china/754637