2,004 km against diabetes

Hakaroa Vallée, 13, has been running since he was old enough to write. He completed his first half marathon at the age of nine. But from now on, it is for the good cause that the teenager of Puteaux perspires. In the summer of 2016, he fell into a coma. Type 1 diabetes, the doctors said. The announcement of this autoimmune disease gave him wings and the desire to take up challenges.

After having created with his family the badociation "Just DID it" (DID for diabetes insulin-dependent), he ran 24 hours for the Telethon, 24 hours on the Champ-de-Mars in Paris and 50 km in 6 hours during the Défiston. This year, Hakaroa has embarked on an even bigger challenge: to cross France, from Bray-Dunes to the Belgian border, to Colioure, at the gateway to Spain. 42 stages and 2,004 kilometers (like his year of birth), from July 2 to August 19, to pedal and run to spread his illness and "to bring a message of solidarity and courage to sick people, not only diabetics or children " explains the teenager, in front of Angoulême City Hall, where his mother Florence, his sister Manzana, Sabrina, a friend of the family, the municipal councilor Gérard Marquet are waiting for him. municipal agents, all admiring the performance of the boy.

1,250 km already traveled

Party Ruffec yesterday morning, he engulfed with his father Éric 30 km of bike and 15 km of running under a blazing sun. Every fifteen minutes, Hakaroa had to check his blood sugar, "because the heat makes you lose a lot of sugar" . They were accompanied a good part of the way by Kylian, who came from La Tremblade, who was also an insulin-dependent diabetic.

"We've done a little over 1,250 km since July 2. Haka just finished his 11th marathon "Sportingly, it's just amazing" underlines his father. "Diabetics are not people with less capacity, quite the contrary."

Today, Hakaroa and his father will head for La Tour Blanche in Dordogne. They have 754 kilometers left until Colioure. There, they hope to meet Emmanuel Macron to whom they wrote. But also the biathlete Martin Fourcade, one of the athletes who support the young man in his approach, as walker Yohann Diniz. the teen has also written to PSG, but for now, no news. Real Madrid, on the other hand, answered him by the voice of the Spanish international Nacho Fernandez. "He's diabetic too, he sent me his jersey and Cristiano Ronaldo's jersey."