POWER PEOPLE: MAXIME GUYON FROM GENDARME TO ORIENT EXPRESS RACING TEAM
Maxime Guyon from Finistère in the north-west of France, has perhaps one of the most interesting journeys to the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup of all the athletes competing. Not only did Maxime become the first ever Frenchman in history to be crowned World CrossFit Champion back in 2021, but he also served as a Gendarme for some 22 years alongside gaining an accountancy degree.
Today, Maxime is a key member of the Orient Express Racing Team cyclor squad having initially enjoyed and pursued football, martial arts and boxing in his youth. A few sailing regattas at Spi-Ouest and the Route du Rhum failed to really grab Maxime into the sport but something attracted him as he says: “I watched it all from a distance, neither as a specialist nor as an enthusiast, but subconsciously perhaps I acquired a taste for it!” Born in Rennes, he left Brittany and moved around the country frequently as his parents took up new jobs. Later his own job led him also to travel all over the country: "I passed the Gendarmerie exam during my military service, and I worked as a Gendarme for 22 years all over France.” In 2021, he retired from the police force. "The planets were aligned, it was the right time. I'd done the rounds of the jobs that interested me in policing, and I was finding it harder to project myself into the future.”
Alongside his career, Maxime reached national level in taekwondo before switching to the combat sports unit where he worked. Passionate about sport, he also enjoys paragliding and speed flying, surfing, and bodyboarding, too. "I had problems with my martial arts timetable because, with my schedule, it wasn't easy to find partners very early in the morning or very late at night. I didn't do much competition because I preferred to devote myself to my job, which was very demanding and interesting.” Nonetheless he soon made a shift to CrossFit: "It gave me the same intensity of exercise, with the independence I needed from my work. And it enabled me to perform well in my professional field, where you had to be clear-headed enough to execute a fine movement. I had important decisions to make, weapon in hand".
Five years after discovering CrossFit, he became the first Frenchman to win the world title in the discipline, which opened his eyes to other horizons. "I came across a performance coaching course and was really interested in understanding how we can help people to achieve their goals mentally and support them in their approach. It's a very rewarding field that's been underestimated for years, but it's starting to develop. It was in line with the mindset I had in the Gendarmerie and made me want to take the plunge.”
He signed up, and during the course which happened to take place at the École Nationale de Voile et des Sports Nautiques (ENVSN), Maxime met Bruno Dubois. "He told us all about flying boats, new races with a much more intense and faster format than offshore races, and also about the America's Cup. I was an instant fan. When I heard him talk about it, I said to myself that I would do anything to take part if the opportunity arose one day.” A few months later, the dream became reality. Maxime passed the selection tests and joined Orient Express Racing Team. It was a real turning point in the sporting career of a man whose sailing experience was limited to a little Optimist and 420 sailing, as well as some 'pleasure' sailing in Brittany and kitesurfing.
Now, ahead of the third and final Preliminary Regatta in Barcelona, Maxime is looking forward to the competition and gave an insight into how he is preparing, saying: “I come from the world of CrossFit, so I had to be more of an all-rounder and know how to do everything. Aboard the AC75, you need to be both tough and explosive. So, we have an ad hoc training programme, with work on the heart, lungs and, of course, the legs. We've been preparing for over a year now. The level of intensity has risen in crescendo. It's commensurate with the efforts we must make onboard Orient Express Racing Team's AC75. So, it is intense.”
That intensity is made all the harder by the summer conditions in Barcelona where temperatures make the role of cyclor particularly demanding. Maxime and the team are more than aware of this saying: “Heat is a major issue in Barcelona. We use ice jackets to cool us down before, during and after the effort. Our supervisors are very vigilant and make sure we are weighed before and after each race to check whether we have consumed enough liquid. An average trip involves swallowing 4 to 5 litres of liquid, which we then spend. Compensating for water loss and keeping properly hydrated is very important. After sailing, we need to bring our temperature down, so we also have an iCool, an ice bath, which is very useful and effective.”
Keeping cool is one thing as the work onboard the AC75 is intense as Maxime says: “The pedalling is not always very regular: we pedal hard a lot of the time, and then very hard during manoeuvres, which consumes a lot of energy. We really adapt to the demands of the energy required on board. During manoeuvres there is a requirement for more, so we have to deliver a lot more energy which means that we need to pedal harder too. We really adapt to what the boat needs and the time that there is less need for fast pedalling means there is just a little time for recovery, but only to be ready and prepared for when the need for faster pedalling is required.”
Stepping onboard an AC75, the fastest monohull in the world has been a huge learning experience for all the team, as Maxime explained: “At the start, the coaches asked us to look up and look around us to understand the environment in which we were sailing. Apart from Tim Lapauw and Olivier Herlédant, who are sailors, the other six cyclors have no maritime or competitive sailing background. So that was important. Now that we're a bit more seasoned, we're concentrating on the effort involved. In the race it's all about performance. We're looking for aerodynamics, so we adopt the cyclist's position, with our head down in our cockpit and our eyes fixed on the data to know how much effort we need to deliver. We are 100% focused.”
That focus has intensified in recent months for all of the Orient Express Racing Team and for the cyclors, it has been a well worked out plan that is delivering success as Maxime says: “We have a team made up of Kilian Philippe, a sports scientist, and Thomas Crubblé, a physiotherapist, who listen to our needs and know their job inside out. They make sure that training is measured out so as not to exceed certain limits, so that when we compete, we are at our best. Everything is optimised to ensure we're in shape at the right time. The cyclists who aren't working on the boat wait ashore for a rotation, resting and warming up. Yes, the effort is dense and intense. But we're all top athletes, and that's the price of performance. That's what we signed up for!”
Orient Express Racing Team have taken huge strides in terms of performance and could well be the surprise package of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. The cyclor team are mirroring the sailors, delivering the power and performance necessary to succeed and it’s a fascinating journey for all to the very pinnacle of world sailing. Their progress in the competition will be fascinating to watch.
Text: Magnus Wheatley
Image: © job vermeulen