Adventure-wise: Ending on a high note with Chegaga

This second marathon covered an ideal distance of 235 kilometres in an estimated time of 15.5 hours, with 11 checkpoints. Two marathon legs back to back… It was challenging, intense and long! These last two days brought heat, fatigue, skill and amazement.

The rankings should change

The region of Chegaga with its sand, its hills and its Oued Draa will be the last images of the Moroccan desert that the Gazelles will have. Faces were tense on the start line, and not just from fatigue. Some were starting to look to the end of the competition and a ranking that they would like to hold onto or improve. Team 187 (Jennifer KALKA / Jessica AUBERT - VULPES ZERDA) admitted it: “We’re super excited: We want to do our best, give it our all since it’s the end.” Team 176 (Françoise BRENCKMANN / Oriane BRENCKMANN - Leduc) was 57^th in the general ranking at the start of this marathon: “It would be good to be in the top 60 but I don’t really like driving in the dunes, it’s long and slow.” There is no room for error. Will the Chegaga dunes be more vicious than Merzouga?

Concentration required

The day begins with countless small dunes, and the Gazelles knew that those could be the trickiest. Team 182 (Alexandrine ANDRE / Amandine VIROULAUD - Beam Suntory) admitted it: “We need to stay focused despite being exhausted. We’re a bit worried; the maps are different than usual. There are a lot more features. Maybe it’s to help us find our bearings.” They didn’t want to go looking for trouble and were playing it safe. “But that doesn’t stop us from enjoying ourselves.” Team 231 (Perrine THERY / Astrid WILLAERT - PLB Energie Conseil) remained prudent: “We’ll go progressively. We alternate between driving and navigating so when we change, we start from zero. But we’re here to learn.”

When fatigue gets the upper hand

Regularity would be key during these final hours of competition. Important not to let down one’s guard at the risk of losing the advantages of everything that had accomplished up to that point. For Team 158 (Gazelle Gazelle / Chloé JARAS - ASSYSTEM France), this marathon did not get off to a good start: on reaching the second CP, they found it was the wrong one. They got lost in the small dunes. “This is the first time we’ve gone too far. We’re tired and these little mistakes got our spirits down but we’re starting to perk up.” On the map, the feature looked like mountains. The experts tackled them head-on, while the novices went around them. “You need to listen to yourself. This rally is really exhausting morally and physically. Everything is multiplied here: emotions, fatigue, it’s incredible.” Team 142 (Amélie CRIMETZ ZORDAN / Stephanie MARTINEU - AATHEX) were also exhausted. “We’re not going to do Route X. We don’t want to put ourselves in danger.” They were worried about what is still to come…

The vehicles are tired too

The drivers are tired, the navigators are tires, and so are the vehicles. Team 144 (Laurene VOILLEQUIN / Laure AVELINE - Adhome Services) was experiencing that first-hand: “Two days ago, we hadn’t used our sand ladders, straps, or shovel, even though it’s our first time and we’d never done any navigation in Morocco. Then today we busted a tire. At least we know how to change it, but we want it to be over. We’re hoping to end on a high note.” It was hard to control where the tires went; they went where they could. With small dunes just two metres high, there was nothing to navigate from. Virtually impossible to stick to a heading. The Gazelles forgot distance and thought about time. On Route B, Team 111 (Catherine OSTERMANN / Sylvie ESPINASSON - Carbel Hydrocurage - Gravier TP) was heading for CP5: “We had a hard time finding CP3. We had difficulty in the dunes. You need to tackle them differently than the other ones. We got pretty stuck at one point…”

More dunes 

The veiled sky worked to the Gazelles’ advantage, but the rising wind had them worried. The leaders attacked the dunes at the end of the day. The Chegaga dunes are less high, rounder, closer together, but not necessarily easier. They may be less impressive than Merzouga but they’re no less dangerous. The sand was sometimes firm, sometimes soft. Luckily the Gazelles crossed paths with other teams. From CP4 to a few kilometres after CP 5, they were allowed to follow each other. Team 220 (Delphine Bichoffe / Christine Hunka - BFGoodrich) got stuck and reconsidered their goals: “We mustn’t aim too high. We were optimistic, we thought we would sleep at CP6, but we’ll aim for CP4.” The navigator of Team 114 (Sonia BARDEN / Delphine VANMALDER - Team Asset Managment) was crying on reaching CP5 on Route X, due to fatigue and difficult navigation without landmarks. The Gazelles would spend one last night in the sand, alone.

Final hours!

Second day of the marathon and final day of competition. The sandman must have passed this way. Whichever route they chose, all Gazelles crossed the Erg with some amount of difficulty. The vehicle of Team 153 (Fabienne GALIDIE / Tania LIO-MARTINEZ - MM-EVENTS Sàrl) kept sinking into the sand, forcing them to stop at every third dune. At the top of a dune, the two Rallye veterans of Team 246 (Carole MONTILLET / Sylvie GODEAU GELLIE - Vakkorama) didn’t expect to be on the podium this year. The Gazelles found the dunes tough this morning, but the sand was still cool. Team 22 (Tracy MORANDIN / Valérie ROCHE - MORANDIN Yves) was in a festive mood: Valérie was celebrating her 34th birthday today.

They did it!

At checkpoint 7 of the more challenging Route X, Team 138 (Mélissa BERT / Aurélia PAPET) arrived in tears. Team 131 (Sandrine LANG / Susanne RIEL - EST ENTRETIEN ETANCHEITE) fought to reach the flag: “We got a flat tire and changed it on top of a dune, not the easiest thing to do.” Team 23 (Valerie WANNEZ / Emmanuelle GIRAUD BUSSAT - EBV FRANCE) reached CP8 at 12:20: too late, the CP closed at noon. After the dunes, time to cross Lake Iriqui, about 10 kilometres across a smooth surface with no landmarks. The mountain up ahead appeared to rise up out of an infinite lake. The heat and fatigue made it hard to progress. Important to keep a clear head.  M’daouer, a large tajine-shaped mountain, soared above the last Gazelles at the end of the day. Team 206 (Jennifer Royer / Elodie Campoy - MERCI à notre Famille) was relaxed at the checkpoint before last: just one more CP before the bivouac. “We’re wondering if we’ve gotten better or if it’s easier.” The checkpoint official teases the Gazelles of Team 237 (Marie-laure PONDEVY / Nathalie CASANOVA - FEC FRANCE), telling them that they’re at the wrong checkpoint. On hearing the good news, they danced for joy! Tonight the Gazelles will celebrate their exploits with a Star Wars themed evening and fireworks. One last night at the bivouac before the long road to Essaouira…