Two youngsters from France have made heads turn on the Bangalore running circuit with their consistently solid performances in the recent running events in the city.

Meet Solenne Devulder, 23, and Romaric Maire, 22.

Solenne comes from the small, beautiful sea-side town of Dunkerque in Northern France, 10 miles from the Belgian border. She has been in India for all of 5 months, and her exploits include winning the Kaveri Trail Marathon and the Vydehi and Mallya heart 10k. Add to it a very solid finish at the Nike Human Race. “I really enjoyed running in the events in Bangalore. The organisation in all the events has been top-notch. But training in Bangalore is difficult with all the traffic and pollution. I sometimes have to wake up as early as 5 AM to run” she says. Solenne has been running since she was 14. Back home in France she runs the 200 M and 400 M sprints for a running club. While she has been in India, she juggles between gym work-outs, cardio and running, making sure she gets some form of exercise everyday. Explains her stellar performances here!

Romaric is 22, and enjoys all the things 22 year olds do. He has been interning here in Bangalore with an automobile giant for 3 months, aspiring to be an engineer. He won the Men’s category at the Vydehi and Mallya Heart 10k, came 5th at both the BSA Hercules Cyclothon and the Nike Human Race. “I try to run daily for 25 – 30 mins, but manage only about 4-5 days in a week” he says with a chuckle. Romaric started enjoying running when he was 12, and has been running for a local athletic club in Leon specialising in cross country races. Speaking of the Cyclothon he says “I loved competing with so many people. It was fantastic! I use a cycle to get around in France, so it was not really difficult for me, but the temperatures caused a few problems as back home it is much cooler.” He echoes Solenne’s view when he says “there aren’t too many green zones to run here in the city. I plan to take a cab ride out of the city one of these weekends and run in the Indian countryside”. When he is not running or cycling or doing both, he likes to play jazz drums and travel.

Both have had good things to say about the running scene in Bangalore. “It is awesome to come all the way to India and find an active running community to run with” says Romaric. “It’s been really fun. I’ll try to run as many events as my time here permits” said Solenne.

We hope to see the two young French runners at running events in the future too, and wish them all the best in their lives.

They said Rock ‘n Roll was a great leveler and unifier.

Looks like running is the next.

Great news for running.

Team RFL