Stage
n°2 : KHERMOU/ JEBEL OFTAL – 35 km
Communiqué n°3 : 26/03/07 at 15h
Stage n°2 : KHERMOU/ JEBEL OFTAL – 35 km
Number of competitors beginning today’s stage
: 756
JEBEL OFTAL
Terrain: stoney piste, 3 jebels, valley, dunes, sandy
oued
Temperature : 38,5° at 14h.
Hygrometry : 15% at 14h
Hot and sunny, slight breeze
3 CPs (check-points)
STAGE RANKINGS :
Men :
1- Mohamed AHANSAL (MOR –N°3) in 2h 50min
09
2- Lahcen AHANSAL (MOR N°1) in 2h50 min 10
3- Jorge AUBESO MARTINE (ESP N°-551) in 2h57
min 41
4- Abderrahmane MALIKI (MOR – N°25) in
2h 57 min 56
5- Aziz EL AKAD (MOR- N°26) in 2h 59 min 37
6- Lhoucine AKHDAR (MOR – N°5) in 3h
06 min 59
7- Mustapha AIT AMAR (MOR –N°4) in 3h
14 min 41
8- Philippe REMOND (FR – N° 314) in 3h16
min 21
9- Marco OLMO (IT N°400) in 3h 23min 22
Women:
1- Laurence Fricotteaux (FR –N°347) in
3h56min 01 execo Didi Touda (MOR – N°6)
in 3h10 min 25
3- Géraldine Courdesses (N°163 FR) in
4h16’
Race started at 8h45 under sunny skies. The 756
competitors on the course head for jebel Amessoui.
1.7km of flat stony piste, then into the valley.
4kms into the race they take a small path through
jebel. Mohamed Ahansal (N°3, Mor) is the first
to come through. Terrain is then largely flat and
stony through to check-point 1 (km10) situated
on edge of Tijekht oued, in the middle of acacia
trees. Splendid view over jebel Hered Asfer. Abderrahmane
MALIKI (MOR) is first through at 9h31, followed
by Aziz EL AKAD (MOR) and Lhoucine AKHDAR (MOR).
Just a few seconds behind, Lahcen AHANSAL and Jorge
AUBESO. Competitors then have to climb jebel Hered
Asfer, going along ridge. It’s a foretaste
of what’s to come less than 10km further
into the course. As the temperature climbs above
40°, competitors cross oued Rheris and reach
CP3 (29.1km) at the foot of jebel Oftal. Lahcen
AHANSAL is first through followed by brother Mohamed
AHANSAL then Abderrahmane MALIKI. It’s a
1km climb up jebel Oftal with slope factor up to
30%! A cord suspended from the top of the mountain
enabled runners to get over the ridge without slipping
on the long sandy patches. By far the most demanding
part of today’s course! As if that weren’t
enough… 2kms of dunes to finish the stage.
It’s a close finish : the AHANSAL brothers
cross the line hand in hand followed 7 minutes
later by Jorge AUBESO (SP) and Abderrahmane MALIKI
(MOR)
Lhoucine AKHDAR (MOR), had a problem with his right hip which cost him valuable
time.
On the women’s side, Touda DIDI (MOR) finishes
alongside Laurence FRICOTTEAUX (FR) who had sacrificed
a few precious minutes at CP3 giving a moral boost
to marathon champion Dominique CHAUVELIER (N°313,
FR), not on his best form.
The champion of last year’s edition, Géraldine
Courdesses (D163, France) struggled to finish the
course due to an knee injury incurred this winter.
Clearly in pain at CP3 just before the big climb
she admitted she was « worried about not
being able to finish ». She nevertheless
finished in third position, proof, if proof were
needed, that this runner has real bottle.
Note that
the 6km straight run at the foot of the Joua Baba
Ali hills allowed the most experienced
runners to get ahead, as reflected in the rankings.
At
16h two competitors had withdrawn from the race.
|
|
|
