Pierre Cabon has told his story hundreds of times. On the evening of November 13, 2015, the Parisian’s life changed. Present at the Bataclan for the Eagles of Death Metal concert, he was hit “very quickly” by a bullet to the spinal cord. Since then, he has been paraplegic and uses a wheelchair. At that time, he had recently been in a relationship with Myriam. Together they will weather this storm and very quickly want to go on an adventure. “We immediately wanted to travel again but we found very little information on wheelchair accessibility… It was a bit of a hassle,” remembers Myriam.
Not very sporty before 2015, today the couple doesn’t stop. “We did a little squash or ran… But when I moved to a wheelchair, I needed my arms to be in shape to live on a daily basis, without requiring too much help. » smiled Pierre. Since then, their daily lives have changed a lot and their sporting exploits have multiplied: “We have climbed Machu Picchu, crossed a salt desert in South America, traveled New Zealand in tandem or climbed Kilimanjaro” lists the young woman.
Everything for the competition?
Last year, they participated for the first time in the Marathon des Sables in Morocco. “On their website, it says that it is open to all, so we wrote to the organizers to suggest they do it in a wheelchair and very quickly they threw themselves into the project. We did 55 km and we saw that it was possible,” says Myriam.
An experience that they took even further in 2024 by becoming a consultant for the event. Thanks to them, the marathon was able to welcome other disabled groups. And what’s next? “Clearly we are not here to perform, we do not have the capacity but we want to show that sport is accessible to everyone if we prepare well,” explains Pierre Cabon. In a few months, the couple will set off individually for their next marathon in Hamburg, “the flattest on the circuit” smiles Myriam.
