Saturday 17th April 2004 - Jebel Bou Debgane / Tagounite - 20 kilometers
Weather at 8h00 : 25 degrees, humidity 33%

This stage starting time : 9h (GMT)
553 runners at the starting line

Stage 6 ranking - Men
1> Lahcen Ahansal (Morocco)– D 1 – 1h15m02
2> Hassan Oulmyr (Morocco)– D 601 – 1h15m11
3> Mustafa Ait Amar (Morocco) –D 602 – 1h16m23
4> Abdessadek Zaid (Morocco) – D 604 – 1h16m42
5> Mohamad Ahansal (Morocco) – D 2 – 1h17m27
6> Marco Gozzano (Italy) – D15 – 1h20m59
7> Andre Sicot (France) – D212- 1h21m39
8> Benoit Laval (France) – D132 – 1h22m25
9> Abdessadek El badaoui (France ) - D35 – 1h23m41
10> Eric Plantin (France)–D 229 – 1h24m07

Stage 6 ranking - Women
1>Luisa Balsamo (Italy) – D293 – 1h42m43
2>Simone Kayser (Luxemburg) D 241- 1h47m01
3>Lucile Bellotti (France) – D 60 – 1h47m29
4> Christine Delangle (France ) – D 162 – 1h52m14
5> Vera Malget (Luxemburg ) D 231 - 1h53m57
5> Josee Konrath Martin (Luxemburg) – D234 - 1h53m57

Provisional general ranking -Men
1. Lahcen Ahansal – Morocco – D1
2. Mohamad Ahansal – Morocco – D2
3. Hassan Oulmyr – Morocco – D601

Provisional general ranking - Women
1. Simone Kayser – Luxembourg – D293
2. Lucile Bellotti – France – D60

CORRECTION : Yesterday’s stage ranking (women) was provisional. The correct ranking for stage 5 (women) was as follows :
1> Lucile Bellotti (France) – D 60 – 4h 06m46
2> Simone Kayser (Luxemburg) D 241- 4h18m06
3> Lorena Di Vito (Italy) – D 94 – 4h29m56
4> Christine Delangle (France) – D162 – 4h35m40

With the end of this great adventure in sight, all the runners were wreathed with smiles at the starting line. Yesterday alone, they received around 3 000 emails of encouragement from their nearest and dearest. Daniel Cuckerman (D143, France) sums up the general feeling perfectly : “ Of course we’re happy that it’s almost over, but we’re also a bit sad, it’s been such a powerful experience…” The British contingent were unanimous in looking forward to their first beer in Ourzazate this evening. An English runner revealed his dilemma : “ The first thing I’m going to do? It’s a toss-up between a beer and a shower…In fact, I’ll have to start with a shower because there’s nowhere on earth that will serve me in this state…”
The race itself was fast-paced. The runners went through Ait Isfou, a village tucked away in a lush, sandy oasis before they reached the town of Tagounite where they were greeted by enthusiastic applause. Once they had passed the finishing line, the athletes were overcome by emotion. Cheers, tears, hugs - even the toughest amongst them couldn’t hold themselves back, before making a bee-line for the bread and oranges.
Lahcen Ahansal, who remains unbeatable, has won for the seventh time. “This was by far the hardest race.”, he said, exhausted. “ I was really in pain at the beginning of the race, I’d given up hope.” A hope of victory which his brother had cherished for a long time. Once again, Mohamad came in second, and added : “ I’ve never had such a tough competition with Lahcen”.
As for the women, this race made a winner of Simone Kayser, who has done well in the Marathon des Sables and the desert cup before. This woman from Luxemburg, who is 48, ran the race side by side with her husband, and showed her expertise and experience in pacing herself over the week.
Two great winners for a great race. Congratulations also to everybody else who ran. This year everybody was well prepared, only a very few dropped out, and the pace was consistently strong.
All the runners were victorious, they all have fabulous stories to tell…and how many will come back for the 20th MDS next year?