Meet the only Canadian riding this year’s solo Race Across America
Sébastien Sasseville plans to ride 450 km a day for 11 days
On June 14, Quebec rider Sébastien Sasseville will enter one of the most gruelling races in the world: The Race Across America (RAAM.) He will be riding approximately 450 kilometres per day, the equivalent of nearly 20 hours a day on a bike, over 11 days.
Sasseville also has Type 1 diabetes which means he has to take life-saving insulin injections on a daily basis. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first successful injection of insulin in a human, and Sasseville hopes to inspire diabetics to accept their health condition and push themselves beyond their limits.
Sasseville is no stranger to challenges. In 2008, he climbed Mount Everest, the world’s highest summit. After that, he completed the Sahara Race in Egypt in 2012. The 250-kilometre ultramarathon takes place over 5 days, and runners are self-sufficient as they cross the world’s biggest desert. In 2014, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, he set out to Run Across Canada, a 7,500-kilometre journey that is the equivalent of 180 marathons. The adventure ended nine months later in Vancouver on November 14, on World Diabetes Day. Sébastien Sasseville has always had one goal in mind: to inspire, motivate and prove beyond a doubt that we can do anything as long as we are passionate, patient and steadfast in the face of challenge.
“A few years ago, I tried to beat the Guinness record for the fastest trans Canada cycling. I crossed Canada, but I didn’t beat the record. However, I still felt the need to set new performance and endurance goals for myself,” Sasseville said. “The RAAM always seemed a little far out there for me, but over the past few years, I started seriously thinking about trying it. I rose to the challenge, and here I am, just weeks away from putting my foot on the start line. This is an ambitious personal project, but also and above all, this is a team project.”
