Programmed Response

This latest update is compliments of receiving the official “Diagonal of Fools” program guide in the mail.  With the exception of a single passage it reads entirely in French, so it is rather bizarre this has pumped me up.  Guess it simply makes the challenge a bit more tangible.


The English passage shares a web site where anyone can follow my progress (or lack thereof) in real time during the race à Race Link.  I’m not positive how folks might be able to identify me (my bib number will be 5313), but I will have to register three days before the race begins and have an electronic bracelet affixed to my wrist (which gets scanned at various checkpoints and subsequently relayed to their tracking web site).  You have to be physically present and display ID at this time, so it is clear they want to eliminate imposters!  Spotting fellow competitors should be easy in the days before the start.


I paid for a DVD of the course which has yet to arrive, but I am currently attempting to translate the trail description included in the program.  This has proved to be frustrating and alarming.  It has taken me some time to untangle several typos in their literature (very difficult to identify when you don’t know the language!) and there are a few places where my translations don’t make much sense.  Since I might need to rely upon this document to stay on course it seems vital to have someone versed in French vet my attempt after I’ve completed the stab.


But please don’t think problematic translations begin and end with moi, because I will share the opening lines from the “English” cover letter which accompanied my Program:



Dear Sporting Friend,


You are about to take part in a fantastic event: “le Trail de Bourbon”, a race for some, a sporting hike for others, a physical and moral ordeal for all that will take you across Reunion Island, from south to north.



If there was a proofreader, they certainly didn’t wordsmith this to make it read less clunky, and I have no idea what was intended where they exclaim the run presents a “moral dilemma”.  I seriously doubt there will be any nightclubs to duck into along the mountainous route, but as Kim pointed out, we’ll just hope they didn’t mean to insert “mortal” there!

The official program guide for this year’s “Diagonal of Fools”

One of the tidbits from my translations was a warning to “refuel before embarking on a technical descent”.  Here I’ve been concerned about all the nasty uphill stretches and never thought about coming back down.  But the section this caution appears in drops a whopping 5,200 feet…ach du liber!  Perhaps I will find some time to learn a bit of mountaineering before I depart?

Middle relief map is my run (Bourbon Trail) – that first massive plummet exceeds 5,000 feet!