Tommassen Gerben at a refreshment stop during the 2018 Tchimbé Raid in Martinique. (photo contributed)
MARIGOT—Extreme trail runner Tommassen Gerben just completed last weekend’s 103K Tchimbé Raid 2018 in Martinique, placing 61st out of 115 runners, in a finishing time of 23 hours 21 minutes and 48 seconds.
The Dutch civil engineer who works for Independent Consulting Engineers (I.C.E.) was the only Dutch national to take on the daunting 103K distance, all other runners being French nationals. Gerben was part of a group from St. Martin that included Dream of Trails runners and SXM Extreme Runners who participated in the 50K and 21K distances.
Gerben was also joined in the 103K race by Thierry Espagnet from Dream of Trails who finished in 109th place in 27 hours 34 minutes and 47 seconds.
“Thierry and I ran together for the first 45K of the race but after that he wanted to go slower and sleep a bit so I went on alone,” Tommassen said. “He was having a tough time. But I was very glad to hear that he finished the race.”
Tommassen described the race as an amazing experience. He has previously competed in the 50K Tchimbé Raid three years ago and the 50K Trans Soualiga in St. Martin.
“It was the longest and hardest race I have ever done. My preparation was not as good as it could have been as I had some health issues and in March I twisted an ankle training. And in the last week before the race I got a fever.
“In this race you were up against the rain and mud. It’s really hard to run in the mud. And there was 5,500 metres of vertical climbing, so hard that you have to use your hands and feet, downhill as well. Every 10K there is a refreshment stop for water, food, first aid. The race started at 8:00pm so you are running through the night. Some runners use the refreshment stops to get a bit of sleep. I was hoping to finish before dark the next day but halfway through the race I damaged an ankle ligament and it was very hard to keep going. I had to walk more than I normally in the last hour to the finish.”
In the 50K Tchimbé Volcan race François Huc from Dream of Trails finished in 65th place out of 142 runners, completing the distance in 12 hours 9 minutes and 12 seconds. Olivier Gate-Noel (Dream of Trails) finished 88th in 13:35:27 and Felix Girier-Dufournier (Dream of Trails) in 112th place in 14:44:33.
Four St. Martin Extreme Runners also finished the 50K. They were Xavier Dias, Linda Hery, Bruce Gesbert, Mickael Pitisci. The group ran together and finished together in 95th, 96th, 97th and 98th place.
The 21K race, also with 142 participants, saw five runners from Dream of Trails taking part, four of whom were girls. The highest placed was Anne Jacques in 121st place(4:09:36) followed by Sophie Berthelot in 138th place (4:14:02)
“There was so much rain and mud, mud, and mud,” said Sophie. “It was very difficult but a fantastic experience.”
