A line called happiness
They’d been dreaming about this moment for the last 245kms
and finally in Tazzarine it became a reality. THE finish line,
as usual, is a source of very emotional scenes. As a sense of absolute
relief takes over, we start to see sport’s true raison d’etre.
Ahmed has travelled the 70kms from Annif just to see the Ahansal
brothers arrive hand in hand carrying the red and green Moroccan
flag.
A few minutes later it’s the turn of Lhoucine Akhdar and
Samuel Bonaudo to cross the finish line hand in hand. They’re
given a warm welcome from a lively acoustic band from the Atlas
region. The runners start dancing with the band… it’s
clear they still have energy to spare. The Italian veteran Marco
Olmo, a confirmed vegetarian, performs his usual ritual by lying
down to kiss the ground. He may well be thinking of all the kilometres
he clocks up in running to work. That was how he trained. Frenchman
André Sicot crashes through the finish line at such speed
he knocks into Patrick Bauer as the latter tries to give him his
medal.
The ever impressive Simone Kayser and her husband waltz across
the finish in each other’s arms. We’ve now stopped
counting the numbers that are in tears over those last few metres
: Gérald Batchon, Frédéric Balard, Fabrizio
Polinelli, Bernard Magnan, Nicolas Autret, Gerard Junker, Amanda
Heading…and the very moving Brazilian Mozart Santos Junior.
Dominique Daste gives Patrick Bauer a lengthy hug.
Others like Paolo Barcimini, Karim Sasse and Michel Odent scream
with relief and yodel with joy. Andrew Abt zooms over the line
like an aeroplane then says a prayer. Jonathan Ratcliffe from the
UK runs the last few metres in his superman cape and Jean Luc Garcia
in a Gaulois cap. And a small selection from the fatigue and happiness
shelf : Fried Michael and Josef Mayerhofer from Austria who crawled
over the line on all fours. Hervé Demirjian, who did the
last few metres in a zig-zag as if the course wasn’t somehow
long enough. And those that just had to sprint the last stretch
: Yannick Jallais, Howard Gareth, Pascal Schaffner. Some arrived
walking backwards, some insisted on doing tiny steps … the
list could go on forever.
The Chinese contingency finally arrives after a long and difficult
course but finish in a group and are above all happy.
Didier Benguigui and Michel Bach seal their third marathon together.
Didier is losing his sight and as the inseparable couple cross
the line, the emotion is palpable.
Patrick Bauer also has a medal for the camels and their masters
who’ve remained behind the very last runner throughout the
race. They too have walked the whole length of the race and in
sandals …
