The paintbrush marathon

 29 years old Ceza and 44 years old Vincent are a couple of French artists. Their presence on the 25th Sultan Marathon des Sables may seem odd but it happens to be perfectly legitimate. She sketches, he paints. All through the seven day race, they will be stationed alongside the 250 km track to immortalize with the stroke of a brush or a charcoal line the moment’s inspiration, from the start of the opening stage to the last competitor’s going through the finish line on the last day: that means about 15 paintings by the end of the race. This artistic move is a first on the MDS and it aims at something specific: raising funds for Solidarité Marathon des Sables, aka SMDS, a charity set up by the Sultan Marathon des Sables organization. Each day, Vincent’s paintings will be shown on the start line and photographed so as to feature on the Darbaroud website. On Sunday April the 11th, all the works will be shown at the official opening of the Maison Solidarité Marathon des Sables in Ouarzazate: they will then be sold to raise funds for “Sport Eveil Académie”, a project to teach children through sport, and also Fémissima, whose goal is to teach women to read and write.