Thibaut Baronian is a very experienced trail runner and is part of the Team Salomon France team. His achievements are listed and include amongst others 2nd at OCC in 2017, 7th Sierre Zinal 2017 - 4 minutes behind Kilian Jornet!
Thibaut is the first professional runner we have had come over to Ireland to race in the Gaelforce Mountain Run, and hopefully not the last as we look to grow and expand the race in Europe. We are very interested to see if any of our local IMRA runners will be able to stick with Thibaut over the hills or will the French mans professionalism leave the local runners behind?
Now we just have to hope for weather that will allow us to run the full course, although we have a new bad weather option for 2018 allowing us to go further off the beaten track.
We asked Thibaut a couple of questions to see how prepared he will be for the Irish Mountains.
1. How do you balance training for VK races versus 100km trail runs ?
I run essentially 40-50K in race. I Integrate VK in the training plan. If I have to prepare a 80 or 100km I just run longer but the quality workout - speed training, uphill, etc, is the same.
2. In Ireland there are no trails up the mountains do you think this is a good thing?
In France there are paths everywhere which has positives and negatives. The trails permit us to discover the mountains and the landscape, however with no trails the mountains stay wild… !
3. !n Ireland you can run every day in the hills and not see another person is it similar to France?
It’s depends where and when you’re running. At home, when I run in my hills sometimes I don’t see anybody, but if you run in Chamonix during the summer, it’s another story!!
4. We Irish love to talk about the weather and all the photos we see of French runners is that you run in Sunshine all year long! Does the thought of running in the wind and rain of Connemara present any challenges to you?
It may not be always sunny in France !!! Today, we have not seen a sunny day since 2 month! It’s depend when you live in France. Here in the east of France, I think it’s similar to Ireland - wind, rain, cold, fog, for most of the autumn and sometimes (as this year) winter! So, no the bad weather it’s not a challenge for me.
5. What is your favourite race food and do you have a recipe you would like to share with our competitors?
On the morning of the race I love take the same breakfast as the week morning! If not, I love chicken with coco milk-rice and vegetables cooked in a wok! Simple
6. We have a lot of first time competitors who have never run in the mountains before. What was your first race and can you remember how you felt on the start line and after?
My first race in trail running was in April 2010. It was a mixture of excitement and fear. I took the second place of a 17k race. I was very surprise and happy at the end. It was a start of nice story!
7. If you are going for a run what is the one piece of clothing/ equipment that you never leave without.
I think my watch : Suunto Spartan Ultra
Check out some of Thibaut’s amazing achievments below….it’s an impressive tally!
- 3 victoires Wings or Life World Run 2014-15-16
- Victoire Skyrhune 2016 et 2017 (record de l’épreuve)
- Victoire Marathon Transgrancanaria 2016
- Victoire Montée du Nid d’aigle 2016
- Victoire Triangle Adventure Run 100K 2016
- Victoire RedBull400 2017
- Victoire Altispeed 2015
- Victoire transju’trail 36k 2015
- Victoire Trail des Fiz 30K 2015
- Victoire Trail de Serre Chevalier 2014 50k
- Victoire raid Tuit-tuit 2017 –La reunion 32km
- Victoire KV Montreux 2017
- 4x vainqueur KV du Môle 2011-12-13-14
- Champion de cross-country de Franche Comté 2016
- 2e OCC 2017
- 2e Mascareigne (Réunion) 2017
- 3e OCC 2016
- 3e Lantau 50K 2016
- 3e Lyon Urban Trail 2017
- 3e Ultra Australia 50K 2017
- 3e Wings for life Australia 70km 2017
- 3e Championnat de France Trail court 2015
- 6e Grand Trail des Templiers 2016
- 6e Limone World Cup Skyrunning 2015
- 7e Marathon du Mont-Blanc 20017 – 2e Français
- 7e Sierre-Zinal 2007 – 1er Français – 2e meilleures performance Française en 44 ans
- 9e Saintélyon 2017
- 15e Sierre Zinal 2014 Coupe du Monde course de Montagne
You can follow Thibaut on Facebook and Instagram
Be sure to check out the Gaelforce Mountain Run also :)
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