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Portraits
Laurie
Andrews (465) and Michele Jensen (500), positive
Helder
Alexandre Sousa Ferreira (613), surprising
Desert
Team 22 (328, 329, 330, 331,332), focused
Ian
Sharman (821), motivated
Shigemi
Hazama (631), hilarious
Gilles
Diehl (141), modest
Mohamad
Ahansal (1), under pressure
Al
Aqra’ Salameh (71), ambitious
Jorge
Aubeso Martinez (622), zen
Touda
Didi (6), determined
Ryan
Gregory (526), hollywoodian
Sylvie
Alcala Bournat (187), serene
Stéphane
Lesoin (207), reliable
Louis
Cornevin (48), passionate
David
and Mark Simon (531 and 532), together
Paddy
Haddock (892), fishy |
COMPETITORS'
CORNER
Akanksha Foundation
Cancer Research UK
St. Vincent’s cancer
Passion Trophy
Noma Facing Africa
AICR
ING Chances for Children
Fred Hollows Foundation
RUN 4 CHILDREN
Competitors list - 2008
Blackfriars’s School
OFFICIAL
PARTNERS
KIA MOTORS
NEW BALANCE
THEOLIA
Buff
ONMT
Sidi Ali
transavia.com
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| 01/04/2008 - Stage 3 : Oued El Jdaid/Ba Hallou
: 40,5 km |
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Weather
at 8.00am : 19,7 °C / 24% hygrometry
Weather at 12.30 : 48 °C /
11% hygrometry
Men stage 3 ranking
1- Salameh Al Aqra (71) 3h13m02s /
2-Mohamad Ahansal (1) 3h13m27s
3-Aziz El Akad (28) 3h16m05s /
4-Mustapha Ait Amar (4) 3h18m05s
5- Jorge Aubeso (622) 3h24m01s /
6-Hamid Larhalmi (319) 3h37m03s
7-Samir Akhdar (2) 3h37m09s /
7-Lhoucine Akhdar (3) 3h37m09s
9-Gilles Diehl (141) 3h39m50s /
9-Lorenzo Trincheri (458) 3h39m50s
Women stage 3 ranking
1-Touda Didi (6) 4h41m08s /
2-Simone Kayser (400) 5h12m40s
2- Lis Kayser (402) 5h12m40s /
2- Marie-Louise Loos (405) 5h12m40s
5- Katell Corne (277) 5h51m33s /
6- Fleur Grose (494) 5h52m54s
7- Suzanne Lucas (509) 5h54m05s /
8- Isabelle Degrand (59) 5h58m06s
8- Anna Logiudice (82) 5h58m06s /
10- Alessia Bertolino (577) 6h05m41s
Today’s heat was simply stunning, with incredibly beautiful and ever changing
landscapes. The desert is most certainly not some boringly lengthy flat piece
of land, far from it. Here, one goes within minutes from golden sand dunes to
black marbled mountains, from a white dried out lake to reddish peaks that wouldn’t
be out of place in classic Western movies. A feast for the eye. Both for onlookers
and for competitors, who were taken by today’s course through most of what
the desert can offer in terms of relief. Only 787 of them were left on the starting
line this morning, and those were rather anxious about the long and hot stage
ahead. Salameh Al Aqra’ (71) didn’t mind, choosing today to challenge
Mohamad Ahansal (1) : he started off at full speed and kept the lead all through
the heat, winning it with panache but not managing to shake off the Moroccan
favourite. In Mohamad’s words: “we played cat and mouse”. Spanish
competitor Jorge Aubeso (622) got a bit lost in the dunes of the Easter Erg,
ending up in 5th position, and rather tired too.
The bivouac is set at the foot of the impressive bar of the Jhing El Jebel, which
means runners will have a very precise view of the 1000 metres sandy climb awaiting
them tomorrow, as opening for the long 75km stage. Looking up to the mountain,
Mohamad Ahansal speaks of “bou’ou”, a monster scaring children
off in the Moroccan oral tradition. Like everyone else, he can hardly think of
anything else but tomorrow…
As a special treat to his runner, Patrick Bauer ran today’s heat. Tapping
into his last reserves, he reached the finish line just one second behind Patrick
Haddock Paddy Haddock, as he’s known to his friends, advised our very own
Pat to drink lots of water. |
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