Sleeping
pills and chocolate …
Christine Rossignol from France (209) took a sleeping pill rather
than painkiller this morning by mistake just before the start
of the race. Incredible but true, she ended up putting in her
best performance on the race so far! What’s more Christine,
who’s running alongside her husband, eats Nutella every
evening. But the woman’s no fool : she gets her husband
to carry the 750g pot through the dunes !
Colonel Cognac
Giorgio Simonetti from Italy, affectionately nicknamed the Comodo
lizard due to his distinctive style, comes on the Marathon des
Sables every year with only a sleeping bag as luggage. In Ouarzazate
just before the race begins, he goes from room to room collecting
pasta, energy bars and any other dehydrated meals he can lay
his hands on from his Italian friends. But his cognac and cigars
are his own… there are some things the Colonel Giorgio
just cannot do without.
Charlie Norton (685) is
a sports reporter on the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
Every day he faxes a summary of how his day
has gone. Thanks to Charlie, the Marathon des Sables made the front
cover of the paper’s sports page. His tentmates have been
wondering whether the organisation might offer him something in
return. A few beers or a mechoui perhaps? And the reply is, as
you might expect, a categorical no…. self-sufficiency rules
OK after all.
