Home › News › Raichon sets the first fully self-supported GR20 record — 44h43
Raichon sets the first fully self-supported GR20 record — 44h43
In October 2024, French trail runner Sébastien Raichon did something no one had put a clear number on before: he set a reference time for crossing the GR20 fully self-supported — carrying everything, with no crew, no resupply and no pacer. Setting off from Calenzana at 4 a.m. on 21 October, he reached the finish the next day in 44 hours 43 minutes.
An off-season crossing, the hard way
Late October is a brutal window on the GR20: the huts are closing, the days are short, and the high country is cold. Raichon ran into thick fog and wet, slippery rock near the end, and a navigation error in the final 10 km cost him more than two hours and added distance he did not need. That he finished at all, alone and unsupported, is the story.
Why it mattered
Until then the GR20 record conversation was all about supported speed — Lambert Santelli's 30h25. Raichon's run opened a separate, purer category: cross Corsica's hardest trail relying on nobody. He would go on to lower this self-supported mark to 41h53 in June 2025.
For everyone who is not chasing a clock, the lesson is the same one his run underlines: the GR20 is a serious mountain route, and the shoulder seasons multiply the risk. Our free planner splits the trail into realistic days for your fitness, with offline maps and a morning weather briefing — so your own crossing fits the conditions.
Plan your own GR20
Set your pace, see live refuge availability, offline maps and a daily weather briefing — free.
Open the GR20 planner