The figures are there for all to see. The most widely practiced sports in France are today sporting activities in a natural environment, sports which defy constraints and schedules and which include foot races, mountainbiking, kayaking, sailing, rollerblading, climbing and orienteering to name but a few.
Multi-sport competitions of the "rally" type have "naturally" developed, involving numerous disciplines and requiring both varied sporting skills and an ability to adapt to life in the great outdoors.
One of the defining characteristics of these sporting activities is that they are practiced by amateurs, often of a very high level but who have no problem participating alongside competitors with more modest abilities, of differing ages and whose goal is not always to win but rather to develop their spirit of adventure, discover new
horizons or to pursue their quest for excitement and peak physical fitness.
This is a sport for all, a sport for our century, a pure sport rather than a business-driven sport… That said it is by no means a sport lacking in entertainment value. Far from it in fact, as we will be demonstrating with the Raid CanéO Nature which will be providing first-hand coverage of these courageous, committed and versatile men
and women with a thirst for knowledge and discovery, capable of amazing feats over an incredible race route across France, a route which changes each year.
The Raid CanéO Nature offers a simple route, which for this first event runs from Versailles to Marseille. A total of 40 teams of four men and women will be completing this 1100 km route without motorized transport of any form, by means of a number of sporting disciplines ideally suited to the environment. This event provides an
opportunity to discover a rare and hidden side of France, a France boasting an unrivalled heritage.
The Raid CanéO Nature has been designed to offer these outstanding nature sports athletes a competition in which they can push themselves to the limit. The Raid CanéO Nature also seeks to give the regions covered by the event an opportunity to show off their astonishing richness and diversity. The Raid CanéO Nature aims to
inspire and motivate all of those viewers and spectators enthralled by the scenes and events surrounding these determined sportsmen and women, all committed nature lovers with no shortage of pioneering spirit and energy.
As a sport which emerged spontaneously of its own accord, from among the ranks of ordinary people, nature sports have now been officially recognized by the Ministry of Sport, which has set up a steering committee given the task of facilitating participation in this sport throughout the country. All that was missing was a major
flagship event. And with the Raid CanéO Nature... here it is!
Gérard FUSIL