I began running with the ASPTT Paris athletic club back in 1981 when I was 10 years old. From 1981 to 1989 we were a group of five friends competing as Poussins, Benjamines, Minimes, Cadets … from middle-distance running between 800m and 3.000m steeplechase, cross-country races, relay races. The highlight for our team was our qualification to run the 4×1.000m as Cadets in 1989, in Cannes ( 4 + 1 replacing ). Right before our paths diverged after graduation. We decided to do it all again last weekend, the exact same way it was ten years ago, the 5 of us, with our strengths and flaws, and accompanied by our wives and children running a relay to start with.
We are still here, in our former training stadium in Villecresnes where we trained so much, and it feels like yesterday, we were such a good group of friends, very well supported and supervised by our 3 coaches, Dodo, Francis and Jeannot, and our parents who took us to every stadium and cross-country places in the Paris region.
30 years ao, we could run the 1.000m in 2’42seconds, today we do it in 3’20s, which is not that bad … ?. (Franck C 3mn02s, Guillaume 3mn26s, Benoit 3mn15s, Franck T 3mn49s, Arnaud 3mn11s).
