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Alain Balalas

Our colleague Alain Balalas passed away on 20 April at the age of 86.

Alain was originally a teacher and headmaster, passionate about his job; but he was also, and even more so since his retirement, a great scholar, a history buff (with a book on the history of Ukraine) and a specialist in Provençal heritage. The author of numerous articles and books about his village, he also led discovery expeditions, conferences and archaeological and historical exhibitions. A medallist of the town of Peyrolles, he was also Commandeur des Palmes Académiques and Correspondent of the Académie des Sciences, Arts & Lettres de Marseille.

He was a regional reference, and took part in a Midi Méditerranée programme about his home town of Peyrolles in the 1990s.

But he was also a great cyclist, a long-distance hiker, a mountain climber and a member of our brotherhood for over 40 years. Although he had not climbed any new cols for 4 years, he continued to be loyal to us.

With more than 300 different mountain passes to his name, he had covered more than 500,000 km of trails in 650.

In 2001, he completed a "tour of France" (not a "Tour de France" as he liked to call it) in total autonomy on a 650 randonneur bike, with 15 kg of luggage: 4,546 km in one month and eight days, 45 départements, 16 regions, 56 rivers crossed, 880 towns crossed. He also took part in Paris-Brest-Paris 1979, numerous randonneur and FFCT brevets, the Federation's randonneur 5000, and cyclo-montagnard brevets.

His funeral took place on 26 April.

Jean-Yves Jamin - DT 04S

Hello Jean-Yves,

We learned of Alain's death yesterday from a phone call from Gérard Fillon, who knew him well.

Your text is an excellent summary of this extraordinary character. It says it all. He was a fervent supporter of Ukraine and we discussed this at length on the telephone when the war broke out.

He had also mentioned his health problems, but refused to admit the diagnosis. He was approachable, welcoming and ... proud to show off, talking about his career and his 'panoply' of diplomas.

He didn't go unnoticed, which I'm sure helped us to strike up a conversation during our walks in Provence in the 90s.

We won't forget it. That's for sure.

An article about him had already appeared in the magazine, and that had 'reassured' him! He needed recognition.

All the best,