Tuesday 13th April 2004 - Lac Iriqui / Dayet Chegaga - 37 kilometers
Weather at 8h00 : 20.2 degrees – Humidity 30%
Weather at 12h30 : 40 degrees – Humidity 9 %

Ranking - men
1>Mohamad Ahansal (Morocco) – D 2 – 3h07m20
2>Lahcen Ahansal (Morocco)– D 1 – 3h11m47
3>Hassan Oulmyr (Morocco)– D 601 – 3h32m09
4> Marco Olmo (Italy) – D14 – 4h04m09
5> Marco Gozzano (Italy) – D 15 – 4h04m09
6> Mohamed El Yakoubi (Morocco) - D609 – 4h04m33
7> Eric Plantin (France)–D 229 – 4h06m40
8>Benoit Laval (France) – D132 – 4h06m55

Ranking – women
1> Simone Kayser (Luxemburg) D 241- 4h 51m35
2> Lucile Bellotti (France) – D 60 – 5h01m25
3> Katell Corne (France) -D33

581 runners at the start
Today is the day that the marathon des sables well and truly lives up to its name. The runners are faced with sand and dunes, followed by sandy dunes. Luckily, a veil of clouds during the first part of the day spared the runners from the usual suffocating heat. The temperature was relatively cool as they set off on their 37 kilometer run. A warm-up of 8.5 km of flat, firm ground across Lake Iriqui took them to CP1, where they encountered their first small dunes of the day. At this point, no surprises, those who are currently ranked the top three were leading the Ahansal brothers – D1 et D2 - closely followed by Hassan Oulmyr – D601. This trio made its way through the dunes to reach CP 2 together. There they entered the high, mythical dunes of Erg El Ghoual – over 20 kilometers of hills of soft sand. On such terrain as this, the Ahansal brothers are unbeatable. Between CP 2 and CP 3, they lose Hassan Oulmyr, and the gap widens to more than 50 minutes difference between them and Andre Sicot –D212 in fourth place. With such a lead, it’s now just a family matter. Mohamad – D2 is winning this duel at the moment, almost four minutes ahead of Lahcen –D1. The sibling order has been reversed. The dunes are proving themselves to be decisive in this race : in more ways than one - as a cluster of runners amongst the first few, including the two Italian Marcos Olmo and Gozzano – D14 and D15, the Moroccan Yakoubi – D609, as well as Plantin (D229) and Laval (D132) from France, missed CP3 in the dunes, and went straight to the finishing line. “ We didn’t mean to at all, we just completely missed it…” This is not the first time that runners have lost their way in these dunes. .
In the women’s ranking, there are even more surprises today. Simone Kayser – D214-, from Luxemburg was first past the finishing post (she was fourth in yesterday’s general ranking).”You know, there are many novices this year. I think they’re setting off too fast. I’m trying to pace myself, and I think the race has only just begun.” She said. In second place today was Lucile Bellotti, who is a newcomer to this race. The women are providing much of the excitement so far, and there is still the longest stage to go!