If the Ardéchois are used to seeing cyclists parade on the roads of their hilly land, it is a less usual competition that they will be able to attend on Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 May. After two postponements due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the diocese of Viviers is hosting the 21st edition of the French clergy cycling championship.
73 participants will compete. Among them, details Jean-Charles Dazy, permanent deacon and one of the organizers of the race, a majority of priests, but also a bishop – Mgr Benoît Rivière, bishop of Autun – deacons, seminarians and six nuns. This year, the presence of Adventist and evangelical pastors will give the event an ecumenical flavor.
“Two or three small climbs”
The participants come from different ecclesial components. Diocesan priests will compete alongside members of the Saint-Martin community, a Dominican and a Benedictine. The Salesians of Don Bosco are also there and in number, notes Jean-Charles Dazy, who is delighted that this year the participation “break all records”. Varied faces of the Church therefore, for a moment which wants to be above all “fraternal”.
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If it’s about giving a “sympathetic face of the Church”, the race remains a competition. The runners, aged 23 to 81, will compete in two events. The first is a race against the clock between the towns of Rochemaure and Cruas, on the border between the Ardèche and the Drôme, and following the course – going up – of the Rhône, on the border between these two departments.
On the second day, the competitors are invited to an endurance race: a loop to be covered three times on the Saint-Remèze plateau, for a total of 54.5 km. “It will be great events, with great circuits”enthuses Jean-Charles Dazy, particularly “two or three small climbs”.
Faith and cycling
Thanks to favorable weather, runners can expect to receive support from spectators along the route. “The people of Ardèche and all cycling enthusiasts will be able to come and applaud these priests, deacons, nuns and monks of France who, between mass and vespers, travel for miles on the asphalt to satisfy a passion”hopes Alain Couréon, the race director, in the press kit for the competition.
Compete against each other, obviously without disdaining to pray together. Participants are invited to meet at a mass at the cathedral on Tuesday May 3 at the start of the day, before the second round. Anyway, for Alain Couréon, “If all roads lead to Rome, faith leads to the spiritual and to the escape of body and spirit. Just like cycling”.
And whatever the final result, priests, nuns and monks are already invited to train for the 2023 edition of this championship recognized by the French Cycling Federation. Meeting is given to the competitors at the Saint-Martin de Ligugé abbey, in the diocese of Poitiers (Vienne).