19 May 2025
His arrival in Paris on May 25, 2025, promises to be an emotional and festive event. The entire Icam community is invited to join GusTrotter on Sunday morning at Parc de Meudon to walk, run, or cycle the final kilometers of his incredible odyssey — all the way to the Tuileries Garden!
On November 11, 2023, Augustin Dubar, a 28-year-old Icam engineer (class of 119 Lille) from northern France, set out on a wild challenge. Twenty months later, he returns after biking 15,000 km from Paris to Singapore, crossing North and Central America on foot and by hitchhiking, sailing across the Caribbean and the Atlantic, and finally running over 800 km from Vannes to the Tuileries Garden in Paris — the very place where it all began. Salomon is supporting him in this final leg of the journey, “a childhood dream come true for this sports and adventure enthusiast.”
The extraordinary odyssey of GusTrotter, with 36 countries crossed and 15,000 kilometers traveled by bike.
“A mindset and openness to the world that Icam gave me — a human-centered education that shaped who I am.”
“Where did my passion for adventure come from? From what I experienced at Icam — when I went to India in 2016 for my final-year internship, when I completed a double degree in Brazil for nearly two years in 2018/2019, and during my Experiment. I’ve always kept this philosophy and openness to the world, instilled by Icam, in the back of my mind. That human formation really made me who I am today, and it’s what inspired this journey.”
Beyond the physical challenge, these 20 months have been an extraordinary human adventure for Augustin.
“I had powerful encounters, especially in remote parts of Central Asia that are rarely visited. Just thinking about them still brings tears to my eyes.”
Of course, there were moments of loneliness, hardship, and fear — all overcome thanks to his “unbreakable mindset.” But what struck him most were the solidarity and generosity he experienced everywhere — even in places where people have nothing — which gave him the strength to carry on, for a cause close to his heart: “To help people who have been injured, scarred in body and soul, to feel truly ALIVE again.”
Raising Funds to Provide Sports Blades for Amputees
This solo world tour had a clear goal, as GusTrotter explains: “To make sport accessible to everyone and promote sports for people with disabilities by raising funds to provide sports blades for amputees.”
He launched this project in partnership with Génération Avant-Garde, an organization whose mission is to give everyone the opportunity to thrive through sport. Also supporting him is Hopper, a startup designing innovative blades to help as many amputees as possible to walk and run again.
Augustin with Régis, one of the first to benefit from a sports blade thanks to the funds raised.
To date, GusTrotter has raised €18,000, enough to fully fund three sports blades. But he’s not stopping there. His goal is to continue raising even more funds to finance more prosthetics, because “so many are still waiting for the chance to RElive a normal life through sport.”
He is also determined to continue advocating for inclusive access to sport, sharing it widely, and involving others who want to take action and push their limits. His journey reflects the Icam community’s values of commitment, openness, resilience, boldness, and solidarity — values that Augustin truly embodies and that inspire us all.
🤝With GusTrotter, Let’s Make Sport Accessible to All :
– Donate via Génération Avant-Garde on helloasso
– Help Gus make sport accessible to all
👉 Discover his travel journal:
by Gus DUBAR → polarsteps.com
