Suffering from multiple sclerosis, he attempts a triathlon world record

He almost never moves without his cane. And does not have the physique of a great sportsman. At first glance, it is difficult to imagine that Géraud Paillot, 52, will attempt on Sunday August 28 to set a world record for 113 km triathlon sequences from the Breton town of Saint-Malo, where he resides. “When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2004, the doctor said to me: ‘sport is over’recalls the 50-year-old. Yet, 18 years older, he has never trained so much.

Before the arrival of the disease, the Malouin liked rugby, skiing or even trekking, but did not practice competition. The challenge he has set himself this year is the fifth since the creation of his association Hustive Adventure – in reference to adjectives human and athletic – five years ago. In 2018, Géraud Paillot linked Paris to Marseille by kayak. In 2019, he crossed the last parallel before the North Pole in Spitsbergen by canoe. A year later, he completed a 113 km triathlon before completing an XXL of 226 km the following year. Always in an inclusive and collective framework.

When he sets off on Sunday from the AquaMalo swimming pool at 6:20 a.m. to swim 1.9 km, he will be accompanied by Mathieu Vaillant, neurologist at the Grenoble University Hospital. The doctor will also chain triathlons over several days, in a valid format. After swimming, he will cycle 90 km via Mont-Saint-Michel before running 21.1 km and finishing at the foot of the ramparts of the starting town, Saint-Malo. Géraud Paillot will travel these distances on a recumbent bike (handbike) and athletics wheelchair: “My shoulders are going to smoke from start to finish!” His goal is to do at least three triathlons in three days and appear in the Guinness World Records, reference book of human exploits. The classification “Most long distance (113 km) triathlon races completed on consecutive days (male)“ already exists and is being created for the paratriathlon category. The events will thus be permanently filmed and two referees from the triathlon federation will be present throughout the course.

A long-hidden disease

“I have an exceptional life”, says Géraud Paillot when asked about his daily life. Above all, he has a strength of character that pushes him to always move forward. In 2004, he lived in Caen with his wife Hélène and his two daughters, Solène and Alix, when caregivers discovered his multiple sclerosis. A senior executive at Schneider, the world leader in electrical distribution, he still remembers that night when he no longer felt his legs: “I had just returned from Japan and thought it was jet lag related.Three days later, the pains have not gone away. Head to the hospital. After a series of examinations, the diagnosis falls. To illustrate this chronic disease, he compares it to an electric wire surrounded by a sheath. The thread represents the nerve. The sheath is equivalent to myelin, responsible for protecting the nerve. In the patient, “the sheath is nibbled and damaged so the information circulates badly”. This causes more or less visible problems, which vary from one patient to another. “I have a cane because I have walking difficulties“, he cites as an example. When he uses his left arm, he does “falling things easier“. But he suffers more from invisible handicaps. He has trouble concentrating: “I take three months to read a book whereas before, I read one in a week”. It is this symptom that led him to stop working in 2017. And to reveal his illness.

For years he had hidden it:At work, only my assistant knew about it. She arranged my schedule so no one would know“. Why this concealment, he who seems so comfortable with the subject? “I was afraid it would penalize me professionally, I wasn’t ready to talk about it and I’m not used to talking about my problems“. Also, “I was fighting against“while today, “I paddle withhe underlines in a nod to his previous kayaking challenges.

At 47, when I stop working, it’s not an age where you want to retire… Either you collapse on a sofa, or you look for extrinsic motivations

Geraud Paillot

If he meets people todayextraordinary“, the former leader does not deny the difficulties: at 47, when I stop working, it’s not an age where you want to retire… Either you collapse on a sofa, or you look for extrinsic motivations“. He then wants to show his wife and daughters “that life is not always as we expect, that we can get by and fight» . “I am proud and in awe. Géraud has this strength not to let go“, says his wife Hélène, who notices that he also has the gift “to take others with him“.

A leadership temperament

During training in mental preparation that he took this year at the University of Paris Saclay, his classmates described him as a motivational leader: he likes to surpass himself, seek victory and take others to a place where they would never have gone. Like his former functions as a manager, he “to advance his team in such a way as to achieve an objective”. You have to see him speak with stars in the eyes of these people who have overcome their handicap – whether it is multiple sclerosis or more broadly any chronic illness – by accompanying him on some of his challenges. sportsmen. He is also impressed by all these individuals who take time for him. Like the carer Mathieu Vaillant, with a very busy schedule, who takes a week off, or Lucie, who comes to open the Saint-Malo swimming pool every morning on a voluntary basis. As for the company Itesoft, sponsor of the event, it does not only have a financing role : “a dozen people will come to run. It is a company that lives its values”, insists Géraud. Moreover, proof for him that the place of disability in society is changing, even if it remains “work to be done in inclusion related to invisible disability“. He was particularly marked by this woman who, walking without her cane, thought about it when she had permission to park in a handicapped space.

Géraud Paillot strongly believes in the place occupied by the mind in the achievement of his exploits. Since January, he has been preparing both physically and mentally. He developed tools to manage his breathing, his emotions and learned to take effective micronaps to perk up between two stages. All that remains is to hope for a mild temperature on the day of departure. If he does not lack willpower, the neo-athlete knows that in the event of a heat wave, he will be tired. This is one of the consequences of the disease:Beyond 30 degrees, it may be a hassle“.