2023-05-03 17:43:17
At the end of April, Enzo, a disabled 14-year-old boy who lives near Troyes (Aube) took part in the very difficult Marathon des Sables (Morocco, more than 200 kilometers). His main guide, Peggie Papa, tells us regarding this extraordinary adventure.
A week of racing, at the end of April 2023. Nearly 270 kilometers covered in the scorching Moroccan desert. It was the price to pay to help realize the dream of Enzo, a 14-year-old disabled boy living near Troyes (Aube).
Peggie Papa agreed to tell this story to France 3 Champagne-Ardenne. A story that begins, surprisingly… in prison.
Who are you ?
“A year ago, I was working at the Troyes remand center. Pierre Soyer, the president ofHandisport, intervened there to allow detainees with disabilities to play football in a wheelchair. He offered me to do the Troyes half-marathon, in order to accompany a young man, Enzo, in a joëlette [fauteuil roulant de course en quelque sorte; ndlr]. I didn’t know him, that’s where I met him. So we did this half-marathon with a team of prison guards – I’m a teacher there – to accompany Enzo. We were flat out for 21 kilometres.”
“Enzo kept encouraging us. And he was talking to me, he was asking me which races I had done – I’m a runner – and which one was the hardest. I was coming back from Marathon of the Sands, a very complicated edition, in October 2021, with heat around 60 degrees, with 53% abandonment. I managed to finish the race, and I came back a little tired. So I told him it was the hardest race I had done. It all started from there: Enzo told me that it was his dream to do this Marathon des Sables. I stopped the joëlette, in full swing, I looked Enzo in the eyes, and I said to him: ok, I’m taking you, I’m setting up the project. It was in May 2022.”
And who is Enzo?
“He is a 14-year-old, currently in third grade at Eurêka college, in Pont-Sainte-Marie… He is very premature, and he is therefore handicapped: he no longer has the use of his legs. At the time, he was neither a friend nor a brother… It was a simple encounter. But today, Enzo is like my fourth child. I carried him for a year in terms of training, finding sponsors, organizing parties and shows… It wasn’t just him and me, we were a whole team. But it was a year where we got together. the two closer. Something strong at the relational level has been created. Unfortunately, I live in a house where he cannot come in a wheelchair because of the stairs.”
Today, Enzo is like my fourth child.
Peggie Papa, Enzo’s first supporter (with her mother, of course)
“His anxiety at Enzo is that the team will let him down. But that’s impossible. Enzo is part of me today. Yesterday he went back to school: I called him to find out how was his return to school. I’ll never let him go. We’ve already planned other races. Not as huge, even if it’s not the challenges that scare me: it’s more the financial side .”
That’s to say ?
“I put my life on hold for a year to find the funds. We had to bring back almost 50,000 euros to participate, it was not easy. We were eight runners, nine with Enzo, ten with his mother, and eleven with Pierre Soyer. The registration per head represents approximately 3,500 euros per person: that’s almost 40,000 euros. And you need 10,000 euros of equipment, roughly: freeze-dried food because we are food self-sufficient, outfits and their flocking, blanket of survival, knife, compass, aspi-venom…”
What sponsors have you benefited from?
“Communities, like the city of Troyes or the region. But also a lot of small anonymous donors, small grains of sand for our Marathon des Sables. And when we had trouble, at the end, to balance the budget, we held a charity auction evening on February 8 at Troyes Fois Plus. We had paintings and sculptures for sale. We were also lucky to have players from Estac, the football club, who supported us: they offered their T-shirts, some player’s cleats, the goalkeeper’s gloves… Gloves gone at 2,000 euros: we saw that the people behind us wanted to please us, to see us go on this crazy adventure. We were able to recover around 22,000 euros: enough to allow us to balance the budget in March 2023 [voir publication Facebook ci-dessous; ndlr].”
How to qualify such a project?
“It was not just a project to take a boy and a team. It goes way beyond that. We had enormous support from completely anonymous people. It took on an incredible scale, which we did not suspect. at the start of this adventure. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the race organiser, Patrick Bauer, and all the volunteers.”
Why do you want to run the Marathon des Sables?
“It’s a huge challenge. We can prove that nothing is impossible. For Enzo, taking up such a challenge means being able to face everything. He comes out stronger. He, like anyone with a disability.”
How was the race?
“All the runners, including Enzo, have to carry our life: sleeping bag, safety equipment, 2,000 calories a day in freeze-dried food, our water too. This is given by the organization every evening, but we have to We each ended up with eight to ten kilos in our bags, and the saddlebags of Enzo’s joëlette.”
“The first stage was 35 kilometers, on Sunday April 23. Monday: another 35 kilometers. Tuesday: another 35 kilometers. Long stage on Wednesday: 90 kilometers… but as the crow flies, in GPS; for us, it was more than 100 kilometers in 30 hours because we had to circumvent certain passages to sink as little as possible in the sand. We had a little rest on Thursday. Friday: 42 kilometer marathon, 46 for us. Saturday , it was regarding ten kilometers.
And how did you experience it?
“Overall, we didn’t have too many problems. Obviously, we had blisters, we vomited, we had nosebleeds, we had diarrhoea. Enzo too. But nothing serious, no abandonment. At the level of the joëlette, we unfortunately had several punctures. At those times, we were waiting for assistance to bring us the equipment and repair or change the wheel. We should have brought the tools, it was a bit our fault. : a second joëlette was better prepared for that by having the equipment directly. We also had walkie-talkies which did not work, so when we had a puncture, a rider had to go full ahead to find someone from the organization and get help.”
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“In terms of temperature, I heard that it was around 50 degrees in the sun. With enormous dryness: we always have a dry mouth, dry eyes… We can water ourselves: two seconds later, we’re dry once more.”
What particularly beautiful memory do you want to entrust to us?
“During the long race, we had a puncture around 05:00. We were waiting for the service… and we fell asleep on the dunes. When the service arrived, we discovered a magnificent sunrise. was a time when we were happy to have died to be able to live that.
What is your state of mind at the end of all this?
“We were super happy to have managed to finish this difficult race. I really feel that I have brought something to Enzo, something that will be anchored throughout his future life… Because in September, he will leave for a high school near Nancy. He will leave his family, his bearings here. And I know that through this magnificent adventure, he will be able to draw strength, resources. I am proud of it. I say I, but it is of the whole team, of course. We allow him to have a solid background throughout his life as a teenager, as a man, as a future dad who knows. Finishing a Marathon des Sables is transforming a life. Enzo, and ours, our runners [Enzo a terminé la course debout; voir vidéo ci-dessous].”
video duration: 00h00mn22s
Enzo finishes the race standing.
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©Peggie Pope
And what did Enzo tell you?
“He thanked us all. He was cute: he gave us all a nickname, he had cataloged us. He is very, very grateful. But always with this anguish of abandonment. It’s new, for him, that a whole team was able to mobilize around him for a year. His handicap, today, at school as in his daily life, is something he does not live well. He feels unloved: at the At school, he has no friend. We don’t even hold a door for him so that he can go through with his wheelchair… These are daily difficulties.”
How is the daily return?
“The transition is special. We find our daily life. I worked once more on Tuesday May 2, Enzo went back to college too… It’s difficult. At night, we give each other news between members of the team, and We always have our heads in the desert. We’re still there. With or without Enzo: it was my third Marathon des Sables, and it’s like this every time. Lydie, Enzo’s mother, called me to ask myself: how long will it last, I feel like I’m still there? It takes at least a good week before reconnecting to reality.”
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