THE VIEW FROM FEZ: MARATHON DES SABLES

Friday, April 13, 2012

MARATHON DES SABLES - Results Day Six

STAGE 5:
JEBEL EL MRAÏER / MERDANI : 42,2 Km

At 8am. Hygrometry: 53%. Temperature: 15°C
At 1pm. Hygrometry: 18%. Temperature: 29°C

Number of runners on the start line: 800. 4th stage withdrawals: 21 (total: 54)

Running in a post-card

Strings of dunes, dried-up lakes, wadis, the 5th leg of the Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES served a full menu to the competitors. 42.2km to get through to get a bit closer to the final goal.

Hardly 200 metres away from the bivouac, the long pack of runners starts on the first string of dunes of the day. It is doubtlessly the most beautiful kick-off since the beginning of the 27th edition of Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES.

In an idyllic post-card setting, the 800 competitors still in the race ran a classic marathon leg of 42.2km under a bright sun. Whilst Moroccan competitor Aziz El Akad flew towards his first victory of the week, the rest of the “procession” was discovering astonishing landscapes of dunes sometimes gorged with water due to Thursday’s storms.

Another feast for the eye was the colour contrasts of the white wadis, the black stones of the dried-up lakes and the pink-orange of the dunes. At the end of the 42.2km awaited the monumental dunes of Merzouga, the highest dunes in Morocco, which the competitor will have to cross on Saturday before their final deliverance.