What strikes you about this team of joyful guys from the Compiègne ASPTT is their incredible energy, good humour and desire to go for it. There are 5 of them, who met and were federated through a project led by Olivier DEGHILAGE who decided at 20 years old that he would participate in the MDS at age 40.
This year, then.

Brought together for the marathon without really knowing each other, they have clearly created a solid friendship.
Their project has had a dual focus since the start:

• Do the MDS this year and finance this thanks to partnerships
• Create a second aspect of these partnerships with a charitable focus, being very careful to differentiate between the two.

One year ago, they founded their association “Coeur des hommes, coeur des sables” (Heart of Men, Heart of the Sand). Each of them had well defined responsibilities within the group and the project took flight.

Etienne, 47 years old, nicknamed the “old hand”, is in charge of humanitarian affairs. He makes contacts in Morocco, amongst other places.
Laurent, nicknamed the “Care Bear”, deals with communication and sponsoring.
Jerôme, the youngest and “best looking” has been entrusted with the role of President “because we didn’t know what else to do with him”, his teammates maintain, laughing.
Olivier, called “Flamby” because he turned up a little wrapped up, is in charge of the website.
Finally, Abilio, nicknamed “Bibi”, deals with team training assisted by the ASPTT coach, as well as all preparation (food, etc...) because he is the most rigorous... “pernickety” some of them add, as a tall story.
That’s to say, these marathon men, who are at a good level – they finished in the 1000 in the Paris marathon – submit themselves to a training regime for 8 ½ - 10 hours per week, in addition to their post work...
For this team, everything appears to go by with a burst of laughter, with good humour and efficiency;
It hasn’t taken long for results to be seen... And the action is growing.
They organise lotteries, evening events where they explain their projects, and create a craze: “aficionados” are flocking, support is growing and so are their meetings...
They invest in local support actions for children in difficulty in Compiègne.
Together they find partners, allowing them to give two Renault 4L full of sports clothes to young Moroccans through the association “Enfants du desert” (Children of the Desert). Laetitia, the President of this association, took them to sponsor a 16 year-old Moroccan boy, Youssef, who was abandoned 4 years ago by his parents after a divorce and taken in my his grandmother who later became bedridden. The association then took charge of the boy, allowing him to go back to school and continue to grow up with his grandma with support.
What is clear for the team is that the sponsorship will endure long after the MDS. Youssef is their Godson. One last detail: the guys dream of meeting Youssef who lives not far from the start of the first stage - that would be great for them. Or if he could be there at the finish line, that would be the apotheosis!

For this first MDS, their goal is to run as a 5, have fun and finish as a 5, with a respectable average time: not so simple for competitors of this level. This is going to require a lot of listening, solidarity and sometimes patience from them.

In any case, this is a great human and sporting team!