Reinventing your sport over the years with Annick Pfetzinger

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Episode summary

At 64, Annick Pfetzinger embodies a passion for sport that knows no bounds. A former French and history-geography teacher, she devoted over twelve years toultra-trail running, before adjusting her practice to continue enjoying herself. XTERRA Trail World Champion in her category, she shares her journey, her commitment to gender equality in sport and her approach to movement with experience and curiosity.

A life punctuated by sport and nature

Nature has been his playground since childhood. His father, an avid mountaineer, took him to the mountains at an early age: “By the age of 7, I was already climbing 1,000 meters with him”.

This deep connection with the outdoors has never left her. For Annick, outdoor sport is above all a matter of sensations: “When I’m in the mountains at night, smelling the rock and seeing the moon, I feel great.”

After taking a break when she became a mother, she returned to running at a personal turning point, discovering trail running in 2009: “I was in nature, with the same sensations as when I was a child. That’s when it all clicked.

From ultra-trail to transmission

For over ten years, Annick has been a passionate ultra-trail runner.

She sees it as an inner, sensory journey: starry nights, unlikely encounters, grandiose landscapes. “In ultra, especially at night, you feel and see sublime things. These are images that stay with you for the rest of your life.

But beyond performance, it’s resilience that marks her: getting through fatigue, bad weather, loneliness, and always keeping going. “Sometimes you wonder how you made it to the end, but you did.”

Today, she has moderated her practice: no more very long distances, but still just as much fun. In winter, she goes cross-country skiing, cycling, and has even taken up triathlon: “I used to swim like a rock, but I took lessons. Now I can’t say I swim like a fish, but it’s getting better!

Committing to equality in sport

In the early 2010s, Annick entered a cross-country competition and discovered that women could only run 4 to 5 km, compared with 8 to 10 km for men. “I was told that it was in the rules and that women might get pushed around.”

Refusing this inequality, she decided to run both events – the women’s and then the men’s – even without a ranking. “At first people thought I was crazy, then I became the mascot.”

After several years of insistence and the support of other female runners, the rules changed: women could finally run the same distances as men. “If you don’t point it, you don’t move forward.”

Attitudes are changing… slowly

Annick notes real progress in women’s running, but also persistent resistance. She recounts with humour the remarks she hears during races: “For a woman, you run well” or “How old are you?

For her, these reflexes still reveal ingrained representations: “A woman who doubles up, especially at a certain age, is disturbing”.

But she remains optimistic: trail running, she believes, is a more open discipline than others. And the most important thing is that younger generations dare to ask questions. She cites with pride the attitude of her niece in secondary school: “She refused to do push-ups on her knees and challenged her teacher. That’s how things change.”

Adapting with age

Today, Annick is still enthusiastic about her sport, but with a greater awareness of her body: “The doctor told me that my joints were like old tires. But that doesn’t mean I can’t ride!”
She relies on the variation of sports and adaptation: no more long distances, but always the desire to set herself challenges and learn.

For her, experience is a strength: “The more experience you have, the fewer mistakes you make. You can manage effort and recovery better.

Bouncing back after illness

In 2020, breast cancer turns everything upside down. After three operations, Annick loses confidence in her body. She got back on her feet step by step, thanks to walking, solidarity and perseverance: “The bakery, at 800 metres, was Everest. But I kept telling myself: today 800, tomorrow 850.

A year later, she completed theUltra Trail Suisse Alpes (160 km). A symbolic victory: “I had to wear them down! All the others had given up.

For her, sport has been an engine for reconstruction: “The body can start again. You just have to teach it again.

Become XTERRA world champion

Five years after her illness, Annick wins the XTERRA Trail World Champion title in her category. A victory she takes with humility: “There were only three of us, but it was symbolic. Five years before, I was in hospital.

True to her convictions, she travelled there by train, without a plane, and camped among the Welsh sheep: an adventure in her image, simple, joyful and committed.

What next?

There’s no shortage of projects: crossing the Vosges on her own, a trip to Lapland to see the northern lights… Annick continues to chart her course with curiosity and enthusiasm.

A message for sportswomen

“Dare to please yourself.” She concludes with a nod to Simone de Beauvoir: “You’re not born a woman, you become one. Well, you can also become a sportswoman. You just have to dare.