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Sébastien Raichon lowers the self-supported GR20 record to 41h53
On 7 June 2025, French trail runner Sébastien Raichon beat his own record for the fastest fully self-supported crossing of the GR20, covering the roughly 180 km and 11,000 m of ascent in 41 hours 53 minutes — shaving nearly three hours off the mark he set just eight months earlier.
What "self-supported" means
This is a different discipline from the outright speed record. Self-supported (*en autonomie totale*) means no crew, no resupply and no pacer: the runner carries all their food and gear and takes only water from natural sources and refuges along the way. It is a purer, heavier, and in many ways lonelier challenge than a supported run — which is why the times are slower than Lambert Santelli's supported record of 30h25.
A benchmark for a growing niche
Raichon's run puts a concrete number on a style of GR20 attempt that more runners are drawn to: cross Corsica's hardest trail carrying everything, relying on no one. For the rest of us it is a reminder of just how much the GR20 demands — most hikers take 8 to 16 days to cover the same ground.
If a fast-and-light crossing is your dream rather than a race, our free planner still helps: pick a fitness profile and it splits the trail into realistic days around the real refuges, with offline maps and a morning weather briefing.
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