In just five years, Montrealer Mathieu Blanchard has become one of the best professional ultra-trail runners in the world. He recounts his journey in Vivre d’aventures, written in collaboration with journalist Franck Berteau. For him, it is a question of going further than what he presents on social networks, in conferences or during meetings with each other on the sidelines of the races.
“A lot of times I get questions that are a bit more technical, a bit more intimate too, questions about my story: have there been more difficult times in my life? says Mathieu Blanchard in an interview. On social networks, we tend to always share the beautiful moments, the smiles. A piece of my story was missing and for me, the book was the only communication channel to share it. »
Originally from France, he moved to Montreal in the winter of 2014 to work as an engineer. He is fascinated by runners who face Mount Royal at -25 ℃, their beards and eyebrows covered in frost. He decides to go for it. He is aiming for the Montreal marathon, nothing less.
“As a good engineer, I dissect a lot of books and specialized websites in order to concoct a training program. »
It works. In September 2014, he ran the marathon in 3 hours 46 seconds.
He did his first big trail race in 2016, the Utra-Trail Harricana du Canada, 80 kilometers along the Malbaie River, in Charlevoix. Without really realizing it, he leads the race from start to finish and ends up winning it. It is enlightenment.
He participates in a Salomon training camp, is recruited as a brand representative. And it starts for good. To the point of leaving his job as an engineer, a difficult decision. If his family and friends in France showed little enthusiasm, his friends and colleagues in Quebec encouraged him to take the leap.
“In France, they were much less favorable to the idea of me leaving this great career as an engineer where I had job stability, a full-time contract, a great salary, social benefits, says- he in interview. Openness to professional reorientation was much more favorable in Quebec. »
Mathieu Blanchard recounts in detail some memorable races, such as the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB). In 2022, he comes second, just behind one of the biggest names in the sport, Kilian Jornet. In fact, the two fought such an epic battle that they completed the 172 kilometer race in less than 20 hours. Never seen.
Between these great races, he knows other adventures: in a pandemic context, he travels the international Appalachian trail, a 650 kilometer journey in Gaspésie, in seven and a half days. It goes around Lake Manicouagan in the middle of winter. He even participates in the French equivalent of the Survivor reality show, Koh Lanta.
The runner is being honest when he reports decisions that he himself finds questionable, such as giving up a legendary race, the Diagonale des Fous in Reunion Island. He has just had an excellent performance at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, he is afraid of tarnishing it with a poor performance at Reunion.
“All these maneuvers disturb me, question me,” he wrote. They make knots in my brain and belly. So is that the high level requirement? Sacrificing your cravings to stop becoming a race-winning machine? »
And there are the wounds, the family dramas, the heartbreaks. These are probably the most moving pages of the book. Everything seems to happen at the same time, the horizon is desperately black. All athletes, including weekend athletes, know this feeling.
Vivre d’aventures is already very successful in France and many reactions relate precisely to this aspect of the book.
“A lot of people identify with that, they also went through difficult times,” says Mathieu Blanchard in an interview.
There is a downside to the book: the chapters follow each other randomly, without chronological order. It is very difficult to find your way around, unless you draw your own timeline on a piece of paper.
Other chapters will eventually have to be added: Mathieu Blanchard is preparing for the Western States Endurance Run, at the end of June, and staying the course to finally conquer the Diagonale des Fous.
