Brahim El Joual, D31-MAR, veteran of the veterans.

He is the only competitor on this years’ edition to have run the very first Marathon des Sables, 25 years ago – a real love story between him and a race that is known for great solidarity amongst competitors: “I had read an article in a local paper, near Fès, about a race in the Sahara. So, naturally, I came to have a look. There was only 23 of us running, and no water supply on the track, so each of us had to run with 5 litres of water in our back-pack every day. On the finish line, Patrick Bauer’s wife Marie asked me what I thought of this new race. I said it would probably become an international event in time and that made her laugh, she was so surprised. Well, 25 years later, over 1000 runners from 43 different countries proved me right. I’m 63 and I ran 22 MDS in all, in a row from the 1st to the 19th edition, and then I had a heart condition: Patrick appealed to all former runners and it was thanks to their generosity that I could get treatment. Friendship is what the Sultan Marathon des Sables is made of.”