Le Marathon des Sables (Sand Marathon) kicks off Sunday
Morocco, Sports, 4/7/2000

The 15th edition of "Le Marathon des Sables" (Sand Marathon) will be launched on Sunday with the participation of 680 racers from several countries.

680 athletes, marchers, racers, youth and elderly, including women, are participating in this physical and psychological endurance test that will wind up on April 15. Participants in this race to conquer the desert will live through an unparalleled adventure that offers fabulous landscapes and provides opportunity to discover the splendor and magic of desert.

This week-long footrace across 238 km grueling desert terrain in Southern Morocco is a test of courage, determination and enthusiasm. The participants, carrying all their food, clothes and sleeping gear on their backs, receive a nine-liter ration of water each day, and spend the nights on the hard desert ground under an open-sided Berber tent.

Competitors will also have to wade across soft sand dunes and dodge rocks in dried-up river beds during daily race and must above all face up the sand storms that blow unheralded.

The participants in the Marathon des Sables do not seek to shatter records, but to reach the finish line. They walk or run to test their own capacity, challenge the desert and be plunged in exoticism.

Besides competitors from some thirty countries, 31 Moroccans are participating in the marathon, including Lahcen Ahansal, one of the serious contenders vying the final victory for the third time after the victories he snatched in 1997 and 1999.

Brahim el Joual, 62, a butcher from Fez, who participated in all the editions of the marathon since it was first launched in 1986, will be participating in this 15th edition, whose dean is French Claude Compain, 77.

The event will be covered by several TV channels.

Previous Stories:
  Boubker Afoui wins Casablanca marathon   (11/29/1999)
  Morocco's Khannouchi breaks world marathon record in chicago   (10/25/1999)
  Morocco's El Moaziz wins London marathon   (4/19/1999)

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