Sand Marathon kicks off Sunday
Morocco, Sports, 3/29/2001

The 16th edition of Le Marathon Des Sables (Sand Marathon) will kick off Sunday with the participation of 630 racers from several countries.

Athletes, marchers, racers, youth and elderly, including more than 10 percent of women, are participating in this physical and psychological endurance test that will start in the region of Erfoud and wind up on Saturday April 7 in the region of Tazaghine.

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 in six phases across 243 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, only receive a nine-liter ration of water each day, and spend the nights on the hard desert ground under an open-sided Berber tent.

The participants in the Marathon Des Sables who are aged this year between 17 (a Japanese) and 78 (a French) 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 plunge in exoticism.

Besides competitors from a dozen European countries, fourteen Moroccans are participating in the marathon, including Brahim el Joual, a butcher from Fez, who participated in all the editions of the marathon since it was first launched in 1986, and Lahcen Ahansal, one of the serious contenders vying the final victory, such as he did in 1997, 1999 and 2000.

For the second consecutive year, doping tests will be conducted according to the rules of the International Athletics Federation.

Previous Stories:
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