Trail and Sea
Between land and sea, Cape Verde has been the scene of an exciting environmental, sporting and humanitarian adventure: Trail & Sea. To see out 2021, French trail champion Thibaut Baronian set himself a new challenge: 8 islands, 8 summits, 400 km and over 15,000 metres climbed in 15 days, punctuated by plogging sessions*. His goal? To combine his two passions -trail running and nature- in order to raise awareness among the general public and the local population about the impact of plastic waste. A combo that resonates beautifully with our Equestrio Foundation’s very own champion runners, Alicia Heiniger (the founder) and Charlotte Viet (the operations manager)!
Each minute, the equivalent of a garbage truck of plastic is dumped into the ocean. This type of waste constitutes the largest source of pollution and Cape Verde is no exception to this. It is often far from us that the ocean is being inundated with rubbish that dramatically destroys sea life. But the piles of plastic which are scattered across our beaches, right before our eyes, are a constant reminder of the consequences of our lifestyles on the environment. Shaken by this sad reality, Thibaut Baronian has decided to take action through what he excels at pushing himself to the limit and running up and down mountains to alert the world to the risks of single-use plastic.
As part of this project, the passionate competitor and his team joined forces with, among others, the NGO Biosfera, which works to protect biodiversity in Cape Verde. Together, they carried out educational sessions in schools and clean-up operations on the ground.
Equestrio Foundation supported this initiative by funding 3 beach ploggings as well as the remuneration of the 2 videographers and the photographer in charge of showcasing the initiative. We also partly financed the sailboat allowing the team to travel from island to island with a minimum of ecological impact.
A fantastic project that we think is well worth all the medals in the world!
*picking up litter while running
Association
Thibaut Baronian is a former high-level cross-country skier who has been a professional trail runner since 2011. He is also trained as a sports physiotherapist and nutritionist. An inveterate traveller who loves meeting new people, he is particularly fond of Cape Verde. Following a first solidarity trail on the archipelago back in 2019, he renewed the experience in 2021 with the specific objective of raising awareness on the impact of plastic waste. An adventure undertaken with a team of 6 people and supported by various committed partners (Salomon, Cébé, Peltz, Uriage, etc.), of which Equestrio Foundation. The whole initiative is promoted via Instagram and the team also aims at creating a film on team spirit, pushing personal boundaries, protection of biodiversity, and plastic pollution, which will be submitted to adventure & mountain film festivals.
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Photographers, video artists, volunteers, explorers of all kinds, they declare their passion for Mother Nature.