If the slopes of Puy Mary welcome 500,000 people every year, La Pastourelle and the UTPMA, over a long weekend in May for the first, in June for the second, bring several thousand people to the trails… which can cause problems with the owners of the plots.
Coexistence with farmers is a real limitation for Philippe Barrière, at the head of La Pastourelle. He would like to organize the race a week later and improve his chances of offering summer weather to the participants, but “in 2022 the runners were facing cows. Several flocks were mixed together, there were broken fences…”
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Since then, it is out of the question for some breeders to let the race pass if the animals are in the summer. “The dialogue is difficult,” regrets Philippe Barrière. We feel that if we are going to run, it is because we have nothing else to do. The rural communities must be made aware of the importance of the event, in terms of economic benefits and image for Cantal. We have to take care of them: if they don’t want us to pass, we don’t pass. »
An approach to the owners
The work upstream is titanic on long courses such as the 60 km of La Pastourelle, the 50 or 112 km of the UTPMA: “We are sending a request to all the owners,” explains Xavier Ducheix, president of Tom15, which organizes the ‘UTPMA . We do not send the circuits in advance, so that runners do not enter the course outside the race weekend, we mark just before, we mark just after. This is part of the agreements we have with them.”
Despite this, problems may continue to exist. Every year Tom15 tries to get the 600 registered people around Saint-Simon, where one owner refuses to let the race go ahead.
Pierre Chambaud
