A marathon within THE Marathon.

Stage 5 : Oued El Jdaid – Erg Znaigui: 42.2 KM

08.45am. Like an age old ceremony, the 926 competitors still in the race get into position for kick off. To walk the hundred metres separating the half-dismantled bivouac from the arch of the start line, some shuffle their feet, some seem to be walking in slow motion.

Still smiling, despite their injuries

“Funnily” enough, those who are injured, those who walk with a limp, would probably be on sick leave in their respective countries. But here, at the Sultan Marathon des Sables, they get ready to walk or run 42.2 km.
An astonishing Moroccan competitor immediately sets an insane pace: Mohamad Farag (436 –MOR), from Team Terres d’Aventure, is a chef for « Maroc sur mesure », a subsidiary company of Terres d’Aventure’s, and he’s been doing extremely well on this 25th edition of the Sultan MDS (yesterday, he was 39th in the general ranking). He used to work for local service providers of the MDS and he really enjoys his few minutes of fame, arms raised towards the sky, in front of camera crews from all over the world.
2 km down the track, in the pass leading to the Djaid wadi and its palm and locust trees, Mohamad Ahansal (1 - MOR) and Salameh Al Aqra (391 -JOR) have already regained command of the lead. There is already a 45 minutes difference between them and the camels who walk behind the slowest competitors.

The slowest ones are fatalistic, they’ve been through worse in the previous stage

The slowest competitors are smiling, they know that it’s going to be a long day and that many of them will only get to the finish line in the early evening, but never mind.
After what they’ve been through those last two days during the long stage, it doesn’t seem so bad
Set behind the Outanouel wadi, CP 1 at Km 13.2 is at the threshold of a sandy valley, leading to the Ziz wadi. To the East of the wadi, the terrain is very uneven and there’s a big crack; the organization has marked the track so that runners have to go round this dangerous zone, but it means they will have to do an extremely steep, if short, climb

When they get there, having already run 20km, competitors find it rather painful. To relieve their much abused thighs, some use their hands to get to the top, where very green tamarisks stand out on the whiteness of the dried up lake they now have to cross.
By comparison to the previous stages, the course is fairly easy up to CP 2 (Km 23.9) and again from CP 3 (Km 36) with another dried up wadi crossing, small valleys and slightly rocky plateau.
Then there’s only 6.2 km left of small dunes and tamarisks: competitors must either cross them or run alongside them to get to the 6th bivouac of the Sultan Marathon des Sables.

A new victory for Mohamad Ahansal

Many more competitors than on previous stage chose to run rather than walk today, and the best ones do it in long, efficient strides.
Mohamad Ahansal (1 - MOR) wins again (03h 10’ 34’’) over Salameh Al Aqra (391 -JOR) who loses the fight half way through (03h 19’ 30’’) and Abdelaziz Aît Abdelouahed (9 –MOR) who makes a nice appearance amongst the top 3 (03h 29’ 46’’).
But for those who walk, by choice or because they have to, it is a long day. Still, they get to the bivouac in a golden light and discover the beauties of Erg Znaigui, where it is set.

The Paris Opera : a sublime touch on the Sultan Marathon des Sables

In this grandiose scenery, an opera singer and twelve musicians from the Paris Opera will give a concert tonight.
It will be a magical moment when all can forget past suffering and remember only the essence of their Saharan adventure.
But there is still one stage to go, with its huge field of dunes, both mesmerizing and terrible, those very dunes than inspired the first name of the Sultan Marathon des Sables twenty-five years ago.

Provisional stage ranking:

1) Mohamad Ahansal (1 - MOR): 03h 10’ 34’’
2) Salameh Al Aqra (391 -JOR) : 03h 19’ 30’’
3) Abdelaziz Aît Abdelouahed (D9 –MOR):  03h 29’ 46’’

Provisional general ranking:

1) Mohamad Ahansal (1 - MOR): 18h 21’ 48’’
2) Salameh Al Aqra (391 -JOR): 19h 11’ 04’’
3) Michael Wardian (698-USA): 21h 20’ 28’’

Women’s provisional stage ranking:

1) Jennifer Salter (936 – GBR) : 04h 42’ 26’’
2) Monica Viladomiu Aguilera (1020-SP) : 04h 46’ 41’’
3) Jolanda Linshooten (90-NDL) : 04h 47’ 02’’

Women’s general stage ranking:
1) Monica Viladomiu Aguilera (1020-SP) : 27h 33’ 55’’
2) Jolanda Linshooten (90-NDL) : 28h 06’ 49’’
3) Jennifer Salter (936 – GBR) : 29h 29’ 06’’

Treat yourself to satellite views of the Sultan Marathon des Sables:

Retrace the route of the 5th stage thanks to GPS points: all you have to do is copy and paste on such sites as Google Maps or Google Earth

Bivouac 5 : N30 49.891 W4 12.977
PC 1 : N30 54.809 W4 07.588
PC 2 : N30 51.934 W4 02.355
PC 3 : N30 55.832 W3 56.809
Bivouac 6 : N30 58.073 W3 54.662