One week after the fabulous unofficial outdoor race in Camargue, I do it again for the outdoor race based in the Calanques (near Marseille, France). This race is one of the oldest on this format (23 years old) in the region. Organized by the Club Alpin Francais (French Alps Climbing Association) every first sunday of february. The race director keeps voluntarily a low profile on the publicity, no ads, no massive participation: reserved for a hundred of happy few, no fixed itinerary, only three mandatory checkpoints (Marseillveyre summit, morgiou road, grande candelle massif). It reminds me the cannonball concept.. you have to enjoy it before the closure of some dangerous paths by the ONF? Otherwise the race is under tight scrutiny, accordingly to the Calanques fragile ecosystem:
Wikipédia tells us:
"The calanques have a particular ecosystem, as soil
is almost non-existent there, and the limestone cliffs instead contain
numerous cracks into which the roots of plants are anchored. In places
where cliffs are less vertical, their vegetation is a classical
Mediterranean maquis, typically consisting of densely-growing evergreen shrubs such as sage, juniper and myrtle. It is similar to heath in many aspects, but with taller shrubs, typically 2-4 m high as opposed to 0.2-1 m for heath.
Like anywhere on Mediterranean coast, Calanques' climate is arid, with any moisture coming only from evaporation of the sea. This xericity associated with the salt spray conditions the subsistence of an adapted vegetation. The calanques also shelter rabbits, foxes, large crows and the Bonelli eagle, as well as many reptiles and wild boars."
Thanks to Figatelli, kikoureur the local guy, the word of mouth (called eventually internet) works at full speed. Jacqueline and myself registred as soon as possible . The route race does not intend to come back to the starting point. Hence the logistic is a bit more complicated than usual:
1- we have to leave a car (Fabrice's car) near the youth hostel de Fontasse parking lot ( 2 km far away from the finish line!).
2- the starting time at Callelongue in Marseille at 9:00 am, however at 8:00 am at Fontasse there is still a lot of runners wandering in the parking lot, finally we arrive safe and sound at Callelongue 8:30 am.
Tight schedule , but sufficient enough to change clothes, take the numbers, and have a decent chit chat with Figatelli and two kikoureurs Richard and Steve, then we meet Antranik and Françoise the Ufos from Aubagne. Proudly, I show to Richard my cheat sheet route taken from a figatelli's post., damned he did the same! I spot some other local guys used to the "hot" races in the region (Jean-René, Catherine etc...)
The ambience is extremely good, finally the race director authorize the late unregistered guys to participate. In this respect , we will be 130 racers to cover the 20 km of hardcore outdoor race in the mountain. I still shoot a picture of the line 2 minutes before the start. As you may see, everyone seems to enjoy the moment here and now.
In the direction of Marseilleveyre summit (432m) the track is very steep after only 500 meters, walking to warm up is advised.
I force myself to look backward and shoot some pictures, I hope the racers do the same as the waking sun view is something fabulous. The line, no the lines of runners wear thin little by little on the different paths.
The stairs of the giants path"l'escalier des géants" on the right or the left the scree path , depending on the traffic it is so-so. Jacq, Fabrice, Richard, Françoise and myself take the scree path while Joy, Figatelli stay cautiously on the l'escalier des géants track.
From then on, we are walking on a single track. A path where it is very hard to pass a runner. Fortunately the weather is excellent, warm T° and a slight wind, otherwise some part of the route could be quite tricky.
From the Marseilleveyre mount we could catch a sight, in the background, Jarre et Jarron Island. You can scuba dive to find vestiges of
"Le grand Saint Antoine" the ship who brung in 1720 the pest epidemy in Marseille.
First check point
On the other side, I am thrilled by this view of Marseille . It was really unexpected, disregardless of my participation to a previous race some years ago. During this past race, the weather was foggy hence as my memories. 
On the field, the path is very tricky and technically hard to run without extra care, despite the scenic view (north the civilization of the crest , south the wild calanques), you need to focus hard on the slippery rocks.
At this minute, I am well ahead Jacqueline andFrançoise. I take advantage of this more or less 5 minutes lead to shoot some pics.
While we progress with difficulties on the crest, Figatelli took the shortcut "scree" lower down, shortly after the "col de la selle". Although I had the instructions in my hand (next to the 2nd tree after the steep slope, take on your left at the pile of little rocks), but my internal processor could not cope with the camera, map deciphering and tricky path at the same time. This is the specificity of this typical race, the most physically gifted is not always ahead.
In front of us the dead man is standing, not a lost dead competitor of last year, but the name of the climb. As little processionnary caterpillars, the racers line up to the summit.
Jacqueline, far away, is in the lower down. Funny to notice the runners at +15 minutes and - 15 minutes at a glance.
I run into a figatelli's block, cool he shoots me at the peak. He recognized me thanks to my races narration, from then on, if you meet me, just shelter from behind me, my ego is now as big as the California state.;-))
Last glance behind before heading toward the "dead man" plateau.
At last, we leave the plateau to come down to the Sormiou calanque. There is sitll some slippery spots on the shadowed parts. Once again my right foot slip on a wet limestone slab. I avoid a bad tumble with my right hand (f..k my camera). Second fall, oh boy, make my day ! The camera seems ok, although my little finger shows now a weird 30° angle from the 2nd phalanx. Uh..no time to think, I put it straight again, no pain at all, the firemen are down there, I will see if I can still bear the pain.
Contre-jour shot of the magnificent calanque de Sormiou, place where I used to climb some cliffs .
On the Morgiou road, I meet again with the "orange" couple, the man encourages her every 30 secs (uh... figure of speech, it was more like commando camp encouragement, yeah .. pain in the a..). I passed them a while ago, but they obviously know some shortcuts. I will have to manage the fuss all along the route. 
On top of the macadam road, I cut the last bend like mentionned in Figatelli's cheat sheet. Then I run into a bloody Figatelli, blood on his face, hands and legs (his tale here) at the second checkpoint.
I stay with him for a while in order to watch after his behaviour during the run. He seems quite lucid (perceptive enough to guide me on the right path). He tells me his huge fall and the rough landing on the calanque soil. He confesses that he has a kind of blockage on steep slope now.. I can't agree more. After high emotion peak, the brain has to process the information (store it as a non traumatic memories cf EMDR model ). As a result, numerous flash back occur until gradual disappearance. I Imagine that Figatelli was experiencing these flashes during the last part of the race.
I can pass some runners now that the path widen again, I see Steve. We have a nice chat, and we could not help but cruising with all the ladies on the path. Very pleasant though.
Steve is sending his regards.
Last difficulty of the day, the grande Candelle. In the background, in screensaver, the calanque de Sugiton (cap Morgiou).
Back again in the rough path that hurts the legs and crushes morale down.. Madame orange says " I'am done, no more legs" Monsieur orange answers "c'mon hon, almost there, breath etc..", I think like the cluedo game "murder doe by the colonel runner with the camera in the single track of the grande Candelle grrrr"..
At last the corniche des Estrets, from now on this is a mild slope down to the youth hostel. I am in a relative good shape, therefore I accelerate as fast as I can. 
Monsieur and Madame "red" hold mutually their hands when the slope is steep, cute isn't it? 
Perfect arrival, excellent food supplies, sunny weather, even my favorites biscuits are on the table!
Figatelli the warrior with his family, he performs his personal best on this race (2h57) Taking my hat off to him ! 
Meanwhile Riri, Antranik and Fabrice arrived in 2h31 2h30 and 2h39 respectively, myself in 2h46.
Jacq arrives in 3h15, Joy has been here for 15 minute.
thanks to the Club Alpin Francais fo this exceptionnal offroad race, Jacqueline tells her hypo to a good listenning Francoise (despite her cough).
Returning back to the parking lot, we have a glimpse of runner on the other valley side. They were misleaded at only 2 km from the arrival, we wave our hands to warn them. They figure out to come back and we recognize Catherine who swores against the bad advise from a fireman.
Akuna
PS my finger is sort of blue, good reason to ask for treatment from my preferred physiotherapist (i.e. my wife ;)))
photos in my flickr account
