02/04/09 – Stage 3 - Erg Znaïgui/Aferdou Nsooualhine : 91 km

Conditions at 9.30am: 31?C and 31% hygrometry
Conditions at 12.15pm : 29?C and 24,7% hygrometry

33 retirements at 9.30am

3rd stage Men ranking
1 Mohamad Ahansal (2-Morocco) 8h08m22s
2 Aziz El Akad (3-Morocco) 8h23m23s
3 Mustapha Ait Amar (8- Morocco) 8h30m15s
4 Salameh El Aqrah (357- Jord) 8h47m23s
5 Anton Vencelj (220 – Slovénia) 8h47m23s
6 Aurelio Antonio Olivar Roldan (529- Spain) 9h27m34s
7 Lorenzo Trincheri (460 – Italy) 9h27m55s
8 Julio Gomez Camacho (473-Spain ) 9h35m45s
9 Marco Olmo (297 – Italy) 9h42m49s
10 Michael Wardian (870 USA) 9h51m59s

General ranking
1 Mohamad Ahansal (2-Morocco) 13h32m57s
2 Aziz El Akad (3-Morocco) 6m20s (time difference with top runner)
3 Salameh El Aqrah (357- Jord) 37m41s (time difference with top runner)
4 Anton Vencelj (220 – Slovenia) 1h28m57s (time difference with top runner)
5 Mustapha Ait Amar (8- Morocco) 1h37m40s (time difference with top runner)
6 Lorenzo Trincheri (460 – Italy) 1h48m59s (time difference with top runner)
7 Michael Wardian (870 USA) 1h57m37s (time difference with top runner)
8 Samir Akhdar (4-Morocco) 2h00m52s (time difference with top runner)
9 Lhoucine Akhdar (5 – Morocco) 2h04m29s (time difference with top runner)
8 Julio Gomez Camacho (473-Spain) 2h07m01s (time difference with top runner)

3rd stage Women ranking
1 Touda Didi (265- Morocco)  11h52m49s
2 Meghan Hicks (825 – USA) 12h01m07s
3 Luz Perez Carbajo (480 – Spain) 12h12m35s
4 Simone Keyzer (434 – Luxembourg) 13h10m50s
5 Rosa Espachs Olivera (504- Spain) 13m31s10s

General ranking
1 Touda Didi (265- Morocco)  19m13m52s
2 Meghan Hicks (825 – USA) 44m33s (time difference with top runner)
3 Luz Perez Carbajo (480 – Spain) 1h06m07s (time difference with top runner)
4 Simone Keyzer (434 – Luxembourg) 2h24m36s (time difference with top runner)
5 Jennifer Salter (782- GB) 2h41m20s (time difference with top runner)

Such an intense, tough and stunning stage! Scoop of the day is for sure the retirement of the great favourite Lahcen Ahansal. The 10 times winner champion  threw in the sponge at check point 4. Not really in a good physical condition since the start of the race, accentuated by a lack of training after his previous year's break, he left the vicotry escape. He took the hard decision to give up, informing his brother between chek points 3  and 4. Mohamad moved then to top speed and left the Jordanian Al Aqrah and the Moroccan Aziz Al Akad on the spot. Taking advantage of his incredible pace, he did not get any rest on check point 5, cooling down his rivals' ardour. He reached the finish line, almost 15 minutes ahead of Aziz Al Akad and robbed him of his first place. Tomorrow will be an unique opportunity for the 2 top leaders to have a bit of a fight, considering other runners are « out » for the first place.The slovenian Anton Vancelj gave renew proof of his great shape, with a beautiful fourth ranking. 

On the women's side, as to amazing Touda Didi, the fireworks go on with no true pretender. Her timing would rank her in the top 30 men ranking. The American  Meghan Hicks reached the line in second position ( 44 minutes after the leader), followed by the Spanish Luz Perez Carbajo (+ 1h06min)  Simone Keyzer (+ 2h41min) from Luxemburg. Touda Didi should finish this stunning week with a well deserved title.

Almost 24 hours after Mohamad Ahansal, the last two runners, the Swiss G. Dietrich  Kohler and  the Malaisian Adnan Mohamed Adnan Bin Osman, 68 and 66 years old respectively, reached the finish line under the runners and staff shared clamours. A amazing moment of solidarity and brotherhood, representative of MDS' spirit.

Because of the exceptional weather conditions throughout the Marathon, the safety does not allow the setting of a new bivouac in the area. The race organisation has therfore decided to cancel the saturday's stage. The 24th Marathon des Sables will come to an end with a last 42km long stage on friday.