Let the marathon  begin

“Bravo! After 5 days of competition, you’re great, disciplined and good-humoured.” The Gazelles are congratulated by Dominique Serra, founder and director of the event, at the morning briefing.

Sport director Ludovic Taché comments on yesterday’s leg: “Visibility made things very complicated. It was longer than anticipated but, in the end, it went very well. Reminder: if you ask the organization to bring you back to the bivouac, you’ll be Unranked!”

After a prologue and 4 legs, the marathon leg can begin. 275 kilometres as the crow flies (in reality more than 320 km) in complete autonomy. “Read the notes on the road book carefully. CPs 1,2,3 and 4 close on the first day, so there’s no point looking for them tomorrow. If you don’t get them all, you can still continue from CP5.”

No mechanical assistance tonight, no refuelling, an impromptu bivouac and 12 checkpoints to find over two days.

The highlight of this leg will be the enjoyable evening spent camping out under the canopy of desert stars… “Morocco is an extremely safe country, so don’t worry when you go to bed tonight, there is no risk of danger. You may hear vehicles in the night: it will be trucks driving to and from the nearby mines. Try to get together in groups. Plan ahead if you really don’t want to spend the night alone. And if you’re attacked by a camel… Fight back!”

To toast the marathon evening, each team is given a small bottle of champagne at the start line, provided by event partner Tsarine.