La course Landaise (France)

Today: practiced sport

Four types of Course Landaise:

1) Course formelle

This is a race that takes place throughout the whole season. This is where the reputation of people and cows is built. It takes about two hours and fifteen minutes, with a break, and it always starts with the Les écarteurs parade, ending with the March Cazérienne played on harmony. The music of the harmony then accompanies during the struggle.

In the season (temporada), five groups of breeders (ganaderías) and five teams of athletes (cuadrillas) take part in team and individual competitions. During the competition, the cuadrilla (team of athletes) consists of seven écarteurs wearing a bolero and four men dressed in white (jumper, two trainers and person from the rope service). This type of competition takes place mainly in Chalosse, Tursan, Armagnac, North Béarn and Bigorre.

At least ten cows participate in competitions. They are locked in boxes. Eight comes out in the first part, including a cow, over which the jumper performs; a cow without a rope and so-called vache de l'Avenir (the cow that is on a rope for the first time) and five cows on ropes that are used to the dodge show. In the second part, six cows come out, including five for dodging performance, and one for jumping performance.

At the end of the competition, the jury announces the individual results of each player and the result of the cow. This result will be used to calculate the "challenge" – the scoring of the competing in the five cuadrillas season. The jury also nominates the three best écarteurs of the competition, who are invited to stand on the podium and receive prizes – these are the people who made the ten best dodges on two different cows.

2) Concours landais

Also in this competition take part the best bullfighters, who compete with each other. Depending on the competition's budget, between two and five ganaderías participate, each with a specific contract for a group of cows (coursières).

Les écarteurs and les sauteurs (jumpers) are chosen individually by the organizers according to their own criteria; most often without distinction of the cuadrilla, with the best position in la Course Landaise ranking. Each competition has its own rules registered at the Fédération Française de la Course Landaise.

These competitions are therefore an opportunity to present the best cows of each of the competing ganaderías and put them with the best bullfighters. The difficulty is because of the fact that each competitor competes with the cow, about which he knows very little. This is the most interesting Course Landaise competition, the most discussed, but also the most dangerous. The most important competition with the participation of five ganaderías takes place in Aire-sur-l'Adour, Saint-Sever, Nogaro (Golden Horn Race), on July 14 at Mont-de-Marsan at the celebrations in Madeleine, in August in Hagetmau and Dax on the occasion of Dax celebrations, which is the oldest and most prestigious for écarteurs. Over a dozen competitions are organized every year.

• Course mixte

These competitions are also called second-class races. Mixed competitions (course mixte) are organized for an amateur audience. They are divided into two parts: the first part is a course formelle, but with less aggressive cows, the second part is reserved for arena games, also called toro-ball or toro-pool, where the audience can participate. Many mixed races (course mixte) are organized near seaside resorts, therefore they attract mostly summer holidayers. Some competitions, adapted to the requirements of this audience, contain only an element of fun.

4) Intervache or totoball

This is actually just for a fun. Often, in these types of events, many Gascons have their first contact with cows. About one hundred events of this type are organized every summer.

The Federation and the Organizing Committee (La Fédération et les Comités organisateurs partenaires) organize different levels of competition from March to October. Except for the formal races (course formelle) of ganaderías and cuadrillas, organized during ceremonies in most Gascony towns and villages, the most important annual events are:

- "challenge" competition (to gain points) - it's about 110 competitions a year. The competition allows to determine the winner of the écarteurs and jumping winners at the end of the season – the official classification of la Course Landaise. The six best écarteurs and the four best jumpers participate at the end of the season in the finals of the French championship for écarteurs and jumpers, traditionally on the first Sunday of October. Five "second" formations take part only in individual competitions under the name "escalot";

- individual competition - after each formal race (course formelle), podium for the winners of the day (at each competition, during the French championship);

- team competition - Cuadrillas Cup.

During the competition, all the acrobatics are judged by the jury (écarteurs and sauteur separately, according to the actual score). The members of the jury are part of the La Fédération Française de la Course Landaise referee group. After three years of internship they are accepted by the oldest referees and the selection is confirmed by the FFCL Controlling Committee (Comité Directeur de la FFCL). In the team of referees, the sports delegate is responsible for the proper functioning of the race in all its aspects: monitoring sports regulations, track quality, safety devices. He is the official representative of the FFCL and, if necessary, has the right to act on its behalf. In 2007, new and more stringent measures, enforced by all other sports federations, strengthened the jurors' authority. All they have to do is to show them a yellow scarf to warn the head of cuadrilla, who is the only person authorized to talk to members of the jury. If necessary, a red scarf appears, which results in greater penalties for the competitors and the group they represent.

Course Landaise is the art of confrontation and avoiding the natural aggression of a cow, which during the competition quickly learns human behavior and tries to counteract it, predicting his behavior. When the cow gains this knowledge, the role of the rope holder becomes more and more important to guide the animal. Every cow has a horn that it prefers to attack with and therefore it is more dangerous on this side. Écarteurs performs his acrobatics on the side of the "weaker horn", while the holding rope operates on the side of the "strong" horn. That is why this detail gives more value to the acrobatics accompanied by the dodging "inwards."

To establish the ranking of animals, there are four categories:

1 to 3 points: new cows that work well with the person keeping them on a rope, they are not a threat and the competition is pleasant and safe;

3 to 4 points: fast cows that start the racing immediately, bend their head, let the rope holders to do their performance, though without too much risk;

5 to 6 points, or even 7 or 8, if they perform well "in the race": strong cows, sometimes hard to control, not always fast, which creates problems for écarteurs;

9 to 10 points: dangerous cows that dominate the man and the arena or, on the contrary, are masterfully dominated by a man who takes all the risks.

Cows of the future

1 to 5 points: for presentation (morphology, horn size);

1 to 10 points: for the behavior on the track (run, engagement, activity)

1 to 10 points: for the work of a bullfighter, usually experienced, whose main mission is to highlight the characteristics of this young cow for the purposes of la Course Landaise.

Until the end of the 19th century, the arena was only a square in a village or fairgrounds, for the occasion closed with placed in a circle strollers. The first model of the hall was built in Landes, on a rectangular plan (40 × 30 m), rounded at one end.

In 2004 there were already 164 arenas for the organization of the competition, accepted by the Federation. There are currently around 180, but some are no longer used. Most events take place in Tursan, Chalosse, Armagnac, the Adour Valley, in the north of Béarn and Bigorre, which regions consist of 80 arenas.

The Courses Landaises racing arena must meet the needs of the competition and a necessity related to the logic of their organization. According to the Landes Architecture and Environment Council of the Landes (CAUE des Moors), there are time arenas, arenas with stands or arenas in Hispano-Landaises, amphitheater arenas, wooden covered amphitheatres, Spanish village arenas or Spanish squares (plazas). Arenas can take various shapes: oblong, rectangular or horseshoe-shaped. These objects are part of the local heritage. A special award is given to the most flowered arena.

The village of Pomarez en Chalosse has covered arenas. It is considered the most important place for Course Landaise, where festival with bulls is organized.