Chantal Langlacé à Marvejols-Mende

Chantal Langlacé, heroine of free running

Everyone knows Kathrine Switzer and the images of her clandestine run in the Boston Marathon in 1967. They went around the world and had a considerable impact. But the great Kathrine, friend of Spiridon, was not the only one to move the lines. In France, Chantal Langlacé was also a pioneer.

FROM CLANDESTINE TO FRENCH CHAMPION

"In the 1970s in France, I took the start under false names or in the pelotons in a clandestine way. I was not very tall, suddenly I managed to sneak in. As I set good times, we said nothing to me. I was also part of the spiridon movement which was very successful, so the French Federation did not dare to disqualify us. *

To signify her commitment to the inclusion of women in her discipline, Chantal wears the flocked Spiridon t-shirt of the little barefoot man at each of her races. As above in Marvejols-Mende in 1975.

In the 1980s, when the French Athletics Federation finally accepted women, she became French marathon champion (1982, 1984) and French 100 km champion (1984).

Today, Chantal Langlacé is 67 years old, she still runs and continues to invest in women's sport.

* Excerpt from an interview with Chantal Langlacé published in Ouest France on April 7, 2018

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