Diagonale des Fous: 112 km in 1989, 180 km today

01A Chamonix gendarme, an island

Jean-Jacques Mollaret is a former gendarme of the high mountain platoon in Chamonix. On Réunion, he runs the Maison de la montagne and has already launched the Cross du Piton des Neiges, modeled on the Cross du Mont-Blanc. The next idea is bigger: cross the island in one go. All that's left is to find out who will be crazy enough to prove it.

021989: north to south

The start is given at the Barachois, in Saint-Denis. The finish is at Le Tremblet, in Saint-Philippe: 112 km, more than 5,000 m of elevation gain. Between 500 and 550 runners set off; a little over 300 see the finish. Gilles Trousselier wins in 16:02. Among the women, Marie-Thérèse Maussion wins in 25:40.

On the date, sources diverge: October 28 according to several histories of the race, while Réunion la 1ère dates its footage of the start to November 26. One thing is certain: it's the only edition run from north to south. The very next year, the start moves to the south.

03Four names, then a nickname

“La Marche des Cimes” in 1989. “La Grande Traversée” from 1990. “La Course de la Pleine Lune” in 1993. Then “Grand Raid,” from 1994. The race looks for its name the way runners look for their breath.

Its founder will never know the final name. Jean-Jacques Mollaret dies in an avalanche in the Southern Alps in 1992.

04Who named the “Diagonale des Fous”?

Accounts agree on 1994 and on a journalist from the magazine Jogging International. According to Mickaël Mussard, a Réunion journalist and author of a book on the race, his name is Bernard Morin and he is preparing a feature on the 50 most beautiful races in the world. To illustrate it, a photo is taken from a helicopter: a line of runners crossing the Plaine des Sables, on the diagonal. The association's president finds the name “exceptional.”

Details vary from one version to another. Lyon Capitale writes that the journalist saw the scene himself from the helicopter, and sees a nod to the chess film La Diagonale du fou (released in English as Dangerous Moves). What can safely be said: an article title, a diagonal, and an organizer smart enough to keep it.

05An island by the trail

Today, the Diagonale starts at night from the Ravine Blanche, in Saint-Pierre, and finishes at the La Redoute stadium, in Saint-Denis. In 2026: 180 km, 10,200 m of elevation gain, 66 hours to finish. From 112 km to 180 km, that's 60% more distance.

And the crowd? Réunion residents turn out in large numbers to cheer the runners along the trails, the specialist trail media report.

In 2018, François D'Haene and Benoît Girondel cross the line hand in hand, after 23 hours 18 minutes of racing. Two winners, one time.