Kindness and generosity do not prevent talent, it is even the combination that makes great champions. Let there be no mistake: Benat Marmissolle is indeed of this type.

After having been among the best in “sky running” (races at an altitude of more than 3000 meters and with a minimum gradient of 30%), the member of the Aviron Bayonnais has specialized in ultra-trails.

After a short period of adaptation, he reached the top, in every sense of the word, by winning the mythical “Diagonale des fous” on Reunion Island in October, a race for which he signed up at the last moment, despite the fatigue of a 6th place finish in Mont Blanc.

Third last year, the class and self-sacrifice of the Basque from Tardets spoke for itself, swallowing the 165 km and 10,000 meters of difference in altitude in 23 hours 14 minutes and 47 seconds.

Such a champion can’t stop there. New races abroad call him, always to compete with the best. For this, the Oscar of the year of the newspaper “Sud Ouest” for 2022 needs support. To leave, for a while, his work at the factory and the family farm, and find time to train even harder, to recover and to aim for new heights.

For all this, for the example he gives, Benat Marmissolle deserves to be helped in his quest for new heights.