Pierre Cabon has told his story hundreds of times. On the evening of November 13, 2015, the Parisian’s life is turned upside down. Present at the Bataclan for the Eagles of Death Metalhe was hit “very quickly” by a bullet to the spinal cord. Since then, he has been paraplegic and uses a wheelchair. At the time, he had recently started a relationship with Myriam. Together, they weathered the storm and soon wanted to set off on an adventure. “We immediately wanted to move again, but we couldn’t find much information about wheelchair access… It was a bit of a nightmare,” remembers Myriam.
Not very sporty before 2015, today the couple don’t stop. “We used to play a bit of squash or go running… But when I switched to a wheelchair, I needed my arms to be in shape to live day-to-day, without asking for too much help,” smiles Pierre. Since then, their daily lives have changed and their sporting exploits have multiplied: “We’ve climbed Machu Picchu, crossed a salt desert in South Americatravelled the New Zealand or climbed Kilimanjaro,” she says.
All for competition?
Last year, they took part for the first time in the Marathon des Sables in Morocco. “On their website, it says that it’s open to everyone, so we wrote to the organizers to suggest that we do it in a wheelchair, and very quickly they got behind the project. We did 55 km and saw that it was possible,” says Myriam.
An experience they took even further in 2024 by becoming consultants for the event. Thanks to them, the marathon was able to welcome other disabled groups. What’s next? “Clearly, we’re not here to perform, we don’t have the ability, but we want to show that sport is accessible to all if we prepare well,” explains Pierre Cabon. In a few months’ time, the couple will set off individually for their next marathon in Hamburg, “the flattest on the circuit” smiles Myriam.