Jean-François Cauchon
Jean-François Cauchon PHOTO PROVIDED BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS CAUCHON
30 years – Quebec
Civil engineer
· Diagonal of the Fous 2019 and 2023 · Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc 2017 · TransMartinique
For what? “It's a mix of emotions. You're exhausted, but you also feel a great sense of self-realization and relief. It makes me realize how far the limit extends. You can always go further and push back even further than you think.”
For Jean-François Cauchon, it all started in 2014 with a simple challenge between cousins. “You are not Gamewe participate in the path Harricana?” This 65km trail race gave him the courage to compete in endurance races around the globe and ten years later he can look back on a successful track record here, including a seventh place finish at the prestigious Diagonale des Fous on Reunion Island .
• Also read: “Like the Tour de France twice in half the time”
This shows how much endurance running has become, without warning, the best drug in the Quebec athlete's body.
Basically, Jean-François Cauchon barely ran. His hobby was hiking. He quickly discovered that trail running became a continuation of his original passion.
He is now 30 years old and his CV is impressive. We can no longer count the number of international competitions in which he took part. In particular, in 2018 and 2019 he won the TransMartinique over 134 km twice.
The unforgettable diagonal
The Piton de la Fournaise is a still active volcano on the island of Reunion on the route. “Photo provided by Jean-François Cauchon”
He also took part twice in one of the most feared races in the world, the Diagonale des Fous. In 2019, he completed the 100 miles (165 km) over 10,000 m of elevation gain in the heart of Reunion Island in 25 hours and 45 minutes, earning him a seventh-place finish that is still talked about in the long-distance world in Quebec.
“The island of Reunion is an incredible place that is not a World Heritage Site for nothing. It is very diverse. The terrain is very rugged. You start on the coast and climb from 2000 to 3000 m, with a really steep difference in altitude.
“The course is very technical with big climbs and big descents. It's unforgiving! The people there know that it is the diagonal. Everyone comes out to cheer. “There is a local excitement that is really cool,” says the adventurer, emphasizing that on the same day he experienced extreme temperature swings of 30 degrees, between cold nights and the oppressive midday heat.
For the tireless runner, endurance events are the ideal opportunity to satisfy his urge to surpass himself and his great curiosity to discover the world.
“These races allow me to pursue my passion while discovering places around the world and different local cultures. A race like the TransMartinique is so exotic. They run in the jungle, in the banana fields, on the beach on the Caribbean side and on the Atlantic side. It’s something very special,” he says.
The opinions of others
With the sea in the background, Colorado Park is one of the places explored by Jean-François Cauchon. “Photo provided by Jean-François Cauchon”
To prepare for a tough endurance test, Jean-François Cauchon estimates he runs about 130 km per week. Sometimes he pushes the speedometer up to 100 miles, which of course makes people think he's crazy.
“If you divide 160 over seven days, that’s 23 km per day, so one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening. It’s my way of going to work and coming back, it’s part of my life routine,” replies the civil engineer.
Anyway, he's heard all the clichés over the years and doesn't care anymore. He prefers to put comments like “It takes a long time even in the car” in the drawer with unnecessary things and continues on his own path, regardless of what others think.
“Some people tell me I’m sick. That's a lot for the average person, but I'll take the comments and politely curb them. A race is like an iceberg. The world only sees what is above, but below it is five times larger. Nobody notices how much effort I put into being well prepared.
“The same condition gives me the freedom to never say no to an adventure and to spend long days outside without seeing a trip as an obligation,” he notes.
At this point, Jean-François Cauchon now feels ready to tackle the legendary Tor des Géants, a 330km event with 25,000 meters of altitude in the Aosta Valley in Italy.
A crazy stage race in Costa Rica
While training on Reunion Island to prepare for the Diagonale des Fous, Jean-François Cauchon crosses Cascades Cove. “Photo provided by Jean-François Cauchon”
Although it wasn't necessarily on his radar, Jean-François Cauchon returned happy with a second-place finish in the Coastal Challenge, a stage race in Costa Rica.
The runner completed the six stages over six days, totaling 242.6 km in the jungles and coast of Costa Rica in 26 hours 32 minutes 58.35 seconds, only beaten on the podium by American Cody Lind.
Quebec was very well represented as her compatriot Natacha Gagné also came second, completing the 155 km in 19 hours, 34 minutes and 51 seconds, behind Spain's Sara Jarillo Lopez.
The participants in the part of the expedition, in which Cauchon also took part, had to cover distances that varied between 35.9 and 46 km per stage.
“It is truly an extraordinary experience, a total immersion. They are accommodated and fed because the camp follows the runners. We sleep at the end of each campsite which creates a really cool atmosphere as everyone stays on site. It allows you to get to know everyone in a 200% Costa Rican experience,” says the Quebec athlete.
“I had my sights set on the podium. I saw in the peloton of runners that I had a chance,” he adds.
The latter received his place because he finished among the finishers last August at the TransCharlevoix, a 107 km race in three days.