We told you last week about Elliot Cardin's crazy challenge to break the Everesting world record. As a reminder, this iconic challenge is taken on by the bravest trail runners, whose goal is to run a positive vertical drop of a symbolic 8848 metres, the elevation of Everest.

Elliot took on this challenge last Saturday, supported by a fabulous team gathered to cheer him on. If you haven't followed the live performance on our instagram @naakbars page, we'll bring you up to speed here.

Right from the start, Elliot was able to get ahead of the current record. Thanks to the support of family, friends and the Näak team, the gap widened in favor of the runner. The world record... A title that, an hour earlier, was only a dream, slowly took shape as the stopwatch went by. The aspiring champion felt confident: his iliotibial band was holding up well, his energy reserves were at the right level thanks to the Ultra bars Energy™ and no muscle pain was felt. The athlete was prepared.

However, when more than two thirds of the objective was reached, the athlete felt his iliotibial strip was weakened but he decided to continue despite the risk; he only had one thing in mind: the record. Slowed down by this injury, he gradually loses his lead but remains ahead of the old record time, everything is still possible. 

Then, at the end, stomach cramps appear. The athlete, injured and suffering, is several minutes late. He decides to give up: "At that moment, I had just fallen a few minutes behind and my goal really was to reach the record. Suffering for hours just to finish didn't appeal me. I preferred to stop and focus immediately on a second attempt."

Disappointing performance? Not really! In fact, a record has been broken: the half Everesting record which, as you may have guessed, includes 4424 meters of elevation. A breathtaking performance considering that the athlete was saving his strength to climb the whole 8848 meters. "I was surprised that my body was so prepared. I was in great shape, I didn't feel any muscle discomfort during the challenge and hardly missed a thing. Mentally, I'm obviously disappointed but on the other hand it's super encouraging to see that I was able to go so fast and with ease despite the unfavourable conditions!"

Record beaten, but not the expected one! After a difficult 2020 year, Elliot is planning to recover to prepare his 2021 season: "I was hard on my body in 2020 and it's time to give it back a little" he confides. Indeed, many awaited challenges and races will take place in 2021 after a 2020 year in which several events were cancelled and postponed due to the current health crisis.