Axel Carion, born July 26, 1985 in Chartres is a French explorer, specializing in extreme ultra distance cycling and the organization of ultra cycling self-supported races. He has cycled twice the length of South America in 2015 and 2017 and owns the Guinness World Record for cycling, as a team, the length of South America, established in February 2017. He is an ambassador of the french NPO Pompiers Sans Frontières,, founder of the BikingMAN race series and ambassador of the French Riviera since 2020.
Guinness World Record - 2017
On January 1, accompanied with the Swede Andreas Fabricius, he attempted to settle the fastest cycle crossing of South America from Cartagena - Colombia to Ushuaia - Argentina. After 49 days, 23 hours and 43 minutes, the duo managed to reach Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego. Self-supported, they had to manage food, accommodations, bike repairs and some remote sections of more than 100 km without a single village. The highlight of the route was the Paso de Jamaborder crossing between Chile and Argentina where the athletes had to cycle at high altitude in the Atacama region.
Axel is passionate about high-altitude cycling. In August 2018, he successfully attempted to reach the summit of one of the highest road in the world: the Uturuncu Volcano at 5,800 meters.
Expedition "Chaskis", in the footsteps of Inca runners - 2019
In July 2019, Axel Carion accompanied by the German record holder Jonas Deichmann, managed to cycle the 1,900 kilometers of tracks between the Inca Valley and the Sierra Blanca in Peru. They perform the feat of crossing one of the highest road segment of Peru's "Qhapaq ñan", nicknamed the "Peruvian Great Divide" in reference to the mountain range that crosses the United States from North to South. Their course was composed of 35 passes above 4,000 meters of altitude including 3 passes higher than the Mont Blanc. They linked the city of Cusco to the village of Conococha which sits at the foot of the white mountain range, in 16 days. They completed this feat in tribute to the Peruvian "Chaskis" runners, who traveled very long on foot to convey messages from the capital Cuzco to the borders of the Inca empire. This course is extremely demanding due to the prevailing climatic conditions, the conditions of the rocky and muddy Andean tracks and the limited access to food for refueling.
In February 2020, Axel Carion invited the German record holder Jonas Deichmann, to cycle the Jordan Bike Trail in record time. Starting in Um Qais, the JBT follows the ancient trade road and link the Sea of Galilee, the Dead sea and the Red sea and finished in Aqaba city. It is 730 kilometers long, with 20,000m of ascent over 57 climbs. The two explorers completed this expedition in 120 hours battling freezing temperatures, snow, strong wind and extreme elevation of the trail. The fastest time before their successful attempt had been completed in 10 days.
