Crossing the United States in 65 days with Antoine Clément
Presentation
"Antoine Clément is a young trail runner who has set himself a crazy challenge in April 2024: to cross the western United States from Mexico to Canada in 80 days. This monstrous challenge will give him the experience he needs to perhaps one day take part in the legendary Barkley, reserved for the best Trail athletes. All in all, this journey represents 42,000 km, 120,000 d+, up to 4,000 m altitude and at least 1,000 km of desert to cross alone during all that time.
Today Clément has succeeded in his challenge, followed by thousands of people, and he tells us this fabulous story."
How are you feeling since your great achievement ?
"It's hard to explain the feeling that's driving me, it's a mixture of a feeling of achievement and pride in what I've just done, I didn't expect to complete this route in 65 days when I'd originally planned for 80 days. But I also have a feeling of nostalgia, I was out of time, focused on my adventure for 2 months and it's hard to come back to reality after something so intense, but I feel very grateful to this trail and the people I've met. I've had a lot of experiences and memories that will stay with me forever. It was the adventure of a lifetime with my Barkley project. And as I often say, you can take away everything in your life, but never the memories you have."
What nutrition did you take with you and how did you eat every day ?
"So I was lucky enough to be accompanied by Meltonic for the first few days of this crossing, and I have to admit that it was very reassuring, to have quality nutrition that was different from what you can eat in the United States, and to feel supported too. I'm extremely grateful to Meltonic for believing in me. I'd taken a mixture of pure bar and drinks and it worked on its own.
After that, I had to adapt to the country and what I could find on the ground, but it clearly wasn't ‘healthy food’, without mentioning brands, it was a lot of very sweet things (I made an appointment with the dentist when I got back, I assure you), the idea was to be able to assimilate between 5,000 and 10,000 calories depending on the day and the distance covered. But on the whole it was a lot of snacks, and I took advantage of the time in town to eat some real food."
What's your best memory of this crossing ?
"My best memory, from a global point of view, is the experience I had in the Sierra Nevada, which is a very mountainous area of 600 km (crossing at an altitude of 4,000 m), and very wild, far from any civilisation. I was able to experience extreme solitude, with no contact with the outside world, and sweat out my food for 1 week. I felt so good, it was relaxing and the days were really enjoyable, with magnificent landscapes and more technical terrain."
Have you gone through moments of fear and doubt (mentally and physically) ?
"Oh yes, I can't mention them all unfortunately... physically I was very lucky, apart from the first week, my body got used to the effort very quickly, mentally it was an alternation between low and high points, sometimes in the same day I could smile and be euphoric and a few hours later shed a tear because of tiredness or frustration at having lost my way or being hungry. I suffered dehydration in the desert and really thought I was going to die, I had to run for 4 hours without drinking in 40 degrees to get back to civilisation, it was probably the worst trail experience of my young career."
What's your advice for athletes like you who have big sporting goals in mind ?
Where did you get the idea to take part in the Barkley ?
A thought for Aurélien Sanchez, the first Frenchman to win it ?
"Before I started trail running, I used to do a lot of bodybuilding and combat sports, I've always been a decent runner thanks to my genetics, but I'd never run more than 10km. I also partied a lot at university. While wandering around Facebook in 2018, I came across a report by Alexis Berg, which was called ‘the Barkley without mercy’ telling the mythical story of the 2017 Barkley, with Gary Robbins' failure. And it was like a kind of revelation for me, I said to myself, I want to be like this guy, I want to experience this incredible mysterious race too. So I wrote down the details of the start of the race on a bracelet that I've kept with me for the last 6 years.
Aurélien is indeed a great inspiration, I met him before he finished the Barkley, at a race where I was able to run a few kilometres, and he's very humble and you can really feel his passion for the mountains, and he's proved that being a little-known runner, you can get there through effort, self-sacrifice, and never giving up on your dream, he's been through a lot of setbacks and always got back up. He will always be the first, and I hope to join him."
What's next ? The Barkley ?
"So, yes, I hope so, if the organiser agrees. I'm taking part in the Barkley fall classic, a sort of mini Barkley at the end of September, open to everyone so that I can enter the race directly without going through the classic process. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. But if I'm not selected this year, we'll try again every year. Aurélien has waited 6 years, so I'll have to wait a few years aha."