A hell of a challenge met with flying colors. Jérémy Minuzzi and Vincent Banet, two agents who work in the sports services of the Aude department, decided to draw an Olympic flame on a map. Their objective ? “Highlight the values of Olympicism and the beauty of the Aude landscapes by drawing a symbol of the Olympic Games…”, specifies the Department of Aude in a congratulatory message published on Facebook.
#challenge I They did it!! 💪🏻🔥Leaving the City of Carcassonne on Friday around 6 a.m., our two sports agents...
Published by Department of Aude on Saturday April 13, 2024
A difficult journey
The two men left the City of Carcassonne on Friday April 12 around 6 a.m. to complete this challenge during the day. Some 210 km by bike later and after 12 hours of effort, they managed to draw an Olympic flame. “A first because until now only the Olympic rings had been drawn on Strava Art,” notes Vincent Banet on Facebook. The mobile application is used by sports enthusiasts to record their sports activities via GPS and share their performance.
This is a first because until now only the Olympic rings had been drawn on Strava Art. Now we...
Published by Vincent Banet on Saturday April 13, 2024
Creating this unique route, one month before the Olympic flame passes through Aude, required a month of preparation and many hours studying the maps. Between country roads and steeper paths, the course was not easy for the two athletes. “The last two climbs of the day were not good for the legs, fortunately there were two of us at those times. And we experienced the first big heat, we didn't expect that at all,” Vincent Banet tells our colleagues from France 3 Occitanie.
GPS drawing, a very French challenge
Last February, Guillaume Koudlansky from Lustrac and Vincent Brémond completed a 2,196 km cycle tour in 10 days. Their route, starting from the Eiffel Tower, aimed to draw the five Olympic rings on Strava. It took them 96 hours and 11 minutes to get there, or 4 days of uninterrupted cycling. This could be the new record for the largest GPS drawing made on a bicycle as a team, which has yet to be authenticated by the Guiness Book.
“We know that we will probably never go to the Olympic Games, but we celebrated the event in our own way,” commented Guillaume Koudlansky of Lustrac, who also holds the record for the fastest marathon run in reverse.