The Chott Challenges: A Unique Blend of Sports, Discovery, and Camaraderie
The Chott Challenges are both a sporting event and the culmination of organized stays by the Association Les Foulées du Monde in southern Tunisia. They combine sports, discovery of the region's natural and cultural heritage, conviviality, and sharing of values.
Press Conference for the 28th Edition
The press conference for the 28th edition of the Chott Challenges took place on Monday at the IFT - Institut français de Tunisie, in the presence of Mr. Dominique Mas, Consul General of France in Tunisia, Mrs. Cess Camatte, Vice-President in charge of organization, numerous members of the press, renowned athletes, and several prominent personalities.
Presentation of the 2025 Program
The organizers, Mr. Philippe Genesio, President of the Association Les Foulées du Monde, and Mr. Mourad Dellech, Vice-President and representative of the Chott Challenges for the Maghreb (Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco), presented the program for this 2025 edition, including the various sporting events and stays offered to participants. The conference was also an opportunity to recall the spirit of the Chott Challenges and the values that have made it a major sporting and cultural event for nearly three decades.
The Chott Challenges Race
Created in 1994, the Chott Challenges race initially featured marathon and half-marathon events. With the growing popularity of trail running in recent years, combined with the natural richness of the courses and the variety of terrain offered, the Chott Challenges have shifted their focus to trail running. The race, scheduled for Saturday, October 25, in the Tozeur area, offers four types of events: a 10 km trail, 20 km trail, 40 km trail for athletes, and an 8 km hike to discover the desert, for amateur enthusiasts of wide open spaces. Only the trail events are timed and rewarded individually and by team, but all participants who complete their challenge will receive a finisher's medal.
The Creation of the Chott Challenges and Sports Akileine: Origin and Evolution
In the 1990s, Philippe Genesio, a financier for Laboratoires Asepta, discovered Tunisia for professional reasons. During his trips, he fell in love with the Tozeur region and the famous Chott El Jerid. This encounter with southern Tunisia gave birth to a crazy idea: organizing a unique footrace where the start and finish lines could be seen from the same spot.
It wasn't until 1993, when Laboratoires Asepta opened a Tunisian subsidiary called Pharmadep, that the first edition of the Chott Challenges took place in 1994. The event featured a marathon, half-marathon, and 10 km race on a dried-up salt lake, with a majestic and surreal backdrop that captivated the organization and participants. The partnership between Sports Akileine and the Chott Challenges was launched, lasting for three decades.
Each year, the event has evolved, with increasingly varied courses: sand, dunes, rocky trails, salt crust... Since then, "Monsieur Philippe" and his team have strengthened their relationships with local service providers, deepening their knowledge of the sites to discover in southern Tunisia. This has enabled them to share this wealth through longer stays, offering more opportunities for exploration and discovery for participants in the Chott Challenges.
The Chott Challenges Stays
Offered since the first edition, the Association Les Foulées du Monde provides runners with the opportunity to experience the sporting event over several days, through all-inclusive stays. Ranging from a week to a long weekend, the Chott Challenges stays are a chance to combine sporting values, culture, and discovery of new horizons, as well as conviviality and festivities around the sporting event.
For this 28th edition, the IMMERSION stay covers the period from October 19 to 27 and offers the discovery of southern Tunisia from Djerba to Tozeur, passing through Matmata, Douz, and the mountain oases of Tamerza. The EXPRESS stay proposes exploring the Tozeur region with a stopover in Tunis from October 23 to 27. The DIRECT stay allows residents of the Paris region to join the adventure by direct flight from Paris to Tozeur from October 24 to 27, and the WEEK-END stay offers residents of Tunisia the opportunity for a weekend of celebration and sporting achievement.
There is also the possibility of taking the bib only or combining it with the gala evening. The Chott Challenges are truly "à la carte," demonstrating the authenticity of their slogan "A challenge for everyone!"
Thanks to the numerous participation options, we have seen French, Italian, Belgian, Swiss, Canadian, Libyan, and Tunisian participants tread the chotts and dunes around Tozeur in previous editions.
The organization of the events and stays relies on a team of passionate volunteers, supported by local service providers, to create an extraordinary sporting journey in prestigious settings.
For 30 years, the Association Les Foulées du Monde has organized 27 editions of the Chott Challenges in southern Tunisia, always with great success. Today, it continues its mission of organization and relies on T-Trail, a Tunisian structure, for the coordination of local services included in its stays.
The Spirit of the Chott Challenges: Our Values
At the heart of our identity, our values guide and inspire us in every action we undertake. First and foremost, sports occupy an essential place. For us, it's not just about performance, but about self-improvement, the joy of effort, and perseverance. Each challenge overcome on the ground reinforces the spirit of fraternity. Beyond competition, we place sharing and conviviality at the heart of each edition of the Chott Challenges. It's in the encounter, shared effort, mutual support, and exchanged laughter that lies the true essence of our sporting event.
Our love for southern Tunisia and its desert is another source of spiritual and cultural enrichment. This land, majestic and steeped in history, reminds us of the importance of heritage and the beauty of these landscapes. Celebrating the south is also about honoring the authenticity of its inhabitants and the richness of their traditions.
In this sense, we place respect for the environment as a fundamental principle.
The Association Les Foulées du Monde
Founded in 1995 to organize the 2nd edition of the Chott Challenges, an sporting event initiated by French individuals in Tunisia, the Association Les Foulées du Monde brought together its first members around their professional skills. Together, they ensured the successful realization of this event, taking charge of every aspect, from conception to implementation, including logistics and necessary assistance: doctors, high-mountain guides, mechanics, drivers, timekeepers, etc.
Over the editions, these sports enthusiasts and dune lovers have formed a team of volunteers driven by a single will: to share their common passion. Their love of sports and attachment to southern Tunisia motivate them to make these magical moments discoverable to an ever-growing audience.
The Association Les Foulées du Monde provides competent and available supervision with a team of guides, a medical team, and logistical infrastructure ensuring the greatest safety for participants, regardless of their sporting level. Convinced that sports are a powerful vector of discovery and sharing, the association advocates for an inclusive approach, ensuring that everyone can find THEIR challenge within the Chott Challenges.
Today, the Chott Challenges have become an unmissable event, eagerly awaited throughout the year.
Sports Akileine
The sports range of the Akileïne brand from Laboratoires Asepta, Sports Akileïne has been accompanying athletes of all levels for over 50 years with specially designed care to optimize their effort, accelerate their recovery, and guarantee comfort. Recognized for its expertise in podology and anti-friction, the brand has become a benchmark in the sports world.
Faithful partner since the 1st edition, Sports Akileïne will again be alongside the Chott Challenges this year, offering all participants a "welcome pack" with samples and goodies.
Partnership with the UFE
The Union des Français de l'Etranger (UFE) is an association and network that brings together French citizens and francophiles around the world. It provides them with a privileged link to France, defends their interests, and offers support and mutual aid in their daily lives.
Since 2024, the UFE Tunis-Carthage, sharing the values of the Chott Challenges and the desire to promote southern Tunisia, has been a partner of this sporting event, where French, Tunisian, and other nationalities gather for a few days around sports.
