December 2024, Cuenca, Ecuador. When they cross the finish line, Sébastien Raichon, Sandrine Béranger, Adrien Lhermet and Benjamin Fayet share the same dizziness: after so often brushing against the Holy Grail and suffering the blows of fate, 400Team is crowned World Champion in adventure racing.
This title rewards a unique group that, for fifteen years, has forged a special place in the history of the discipline. At the origin of this adventure, it was Sandrine who set foot in the world of racing adventure in 2007, before coaching Sébastien, who will take his first global start on Raid in France in 2009. From this common passion for total commitment was born a collective animated by a magical complementarity.
The one we call “the little fiancée of adventure”, Sandrine Béranger, brings the experience of her 22 ARWS races and 9 participations in Raid in France. Her quiet strength finds its perfect complement in Adrien Lhermet, the band’s true compass, whose precise navigation allows the team to stay on the right course despite exhaustion. To support this duo, the team relies on the power of Benjamin, a 29-year-old engineer from Lozère who advances with the regularity of a metronome, always ready to relieve his teammates without ever flinching. For this edition of the ARWC 2026, however, the adventure will take place differently for him, since he will not line up alongside 400Team but will wear the colors of the Lozère Sport Nature team.
To complete this dream team, Sébastien Raichon challenges human limits with an extraterrestrial record that extends far beyond the raid: triple winner of the Tor des Glaciers (450 km of hardcore trail), first finisher of the Terminorum (the French Barkley, reputed impossible) or even the record holder of the GR20 in Corsica on autonomy. The captain refuses fate and is able to transform pain into kinetic energy to bring his team to the heights.
Yet this road to world gold has not been a smooth ride. The quartet had to overcome some hard disillusions: in Réunion in 2018, they are finishing a grueling third place after a fierce race, while in South Africa in 2023, a tag pointing problem penalizes their progress. Even during their coronation in Ecuador, the curse of the “black cat” almost caught up with them when their packraft turned over in the middle of the night. Despite an hour of penalty and the loss of a bag of equipment, they managed to get back up. This is the very essence of 400Team: a unique team synergy where performance depends on each person’s ability to help each other in the worst moments.
The 2024 title was “the achievement” of a life. But champions never stop. They will come to Corsica, on this island of beauty and verticality, no longer as cursed pretenders, but as the bosses of the discipline. In Corte and L’Île-Rousse, the 400Team and Sébastien Raichon are about to write a new chapter of their legend.