Adventure-wise: a long marathon. And it’s just the first.
LEG #5, MECH IRDANE-OULAD DRISS
6 o’clock. Each team on the start line was given a gift of a small bottle of champagne by Tsarine, one of the sponsors of the event. The morale of the troops was good. Over the next two days they would be driving through some of the finest cinema-worthy landscapes in Morocco. Their faces were tanned, cheerful but a little hollow-eyed following a prologue and 4 legs of competition. The Gazelles had 275 crow-flies kilometres (or close to 320 kilometres in reality) in complete autonomy. No mechanical assistance tonight, no refuelling, an impromptu bivouac and 12 checkpoints to find over two days.
More confident and self-assured
At the first checkpoint on Route E, Team 163 (Carine RANDIN / Fabienne VULLIAMOZ BUFFAT - Jenny Systems Sàrl) confirmed that they had gotten their bearings: “That’s it, we’re getting the hang of it. I didn’t think the previous legs would be that complex. We’re going to try to get to CP 6.” The difficulties began on the first day. The Gazelles needed to navigate with precision, avoid rushing ahead blindly and choose their route wisely. The start of the leg took them back through yesterday’s terrain but in the opposite direction, which was probably not much help to them today. Some teams aired up their tires at CP1 on Route D while others marvelled: “It took us 10 minutes less than what was written in the road book! Did I screw up somewhere or what?” There’s always a moment of stress on arriving at each checkpoint…
Team 166 (Stephanie PIERI-CHESNAIS / Isabelle AVIS - TRANSAVIA) remained focused on the way to CP2: “We’ll shift the heading a little just there, ok? We’ll go between. We’ll go around Djebel Signil.” They were hoping to party tonight with other Gazelles. “It’ll depend how the day goes” added the navigator. Team 221 had some difficulty finding the flag. “It’s an 80-point checkpoints so it’s bound to be harder than one worth 40 or 20 points.” The driver hoped to get her revenge on the following checkpoint, but it was also an 80-point CP. Mother-daughter team 215 (Christine BOUVEROT-REYMOND / Emma GALPIN - Allians Taxi) were in 65th place this morning. “Rocks don’t bother me. You just have to judge whether the car can get up and not stall at the wrong time.” Team 115 (Laurence SERAFIN / Pascale NAVARRO - Vinci immobilier) found this leg easier than yesterday’s one. “We have a lot of landmarks and we’re getting better, we can feel it. But it’s getting harder as we go along.”
Meeting-point at CP5
The Gazelles had planned ahead for their marathon night. “We brought a start chart for this night, we’re ready,” enthused Team 170 (Francine ABGRALL / Suzanne Wadsworth - Europ Assistance). Many teams planned to meet at the 5th checkpoint, ready to check it off the moment it opens at 6 o’clock tomorrow morning. But would they make it that far?
Team 218 (Nadine DA CRUZ / Laetitia BARROS TEIXEIRA - DC BATIMENT / BARROS TP) were calm: “We’re not stressed, we don’t have a bivouac to get back to. We’re sharing the driving.” One thing is certain: most of the Gazelles preferred today’s rocky plain to the sand. The Gazelles were relaxed, they’d got the hang of it. The e-Gazelles route took them through some sand. The landscapes changed. Tajine-shaped mountains appeared. The terrain remained tough but got easier after CP4. Headings grew longer as the plains stretched out to the horizon.
It took 1:50 on paper to reach CP 4. The flag was well hidden and several teams decided to skip it. The stark rocky plain looked like a scene from Mars. Team 225 (Nadege GIRARDOT / Delphine BIROLINI - Groupe NEDEY Automobiles) shed some tears of relief on reaching the flag.
Mountains, dunes, sand, rocky plains: the Gazelles got a taste of a multitude of landscapes before pitching their tents in the middle of the desert…
A mini bivouac under the stars
Some fifty vehicles were grouped around CP5, an impromptu mini bivouac far from the tumult of the real bivouac. The Gazelles had been looking forward to this unique evening in the middle of the desert since early this morning. They started to relax. One group celebrated a birthday, while another laughed over the leg’s misadventures, such as when one navigator took a heading off… a camel! But the Gazelles were well-behaved, and went to bed early. They had another long day ahead of them!
Day 2: time accelerating
Even during the marathon, the first Gazelles set off at 6 a.m. just after checking off their first checkpoint of the day. Good habits die hard. Today the Gazelles faced the sandy plains of Hassi Bou Haiara. Sand and more sand, not as majestic as Erg Chebbi, but not necessarily any less treacherous… Team 126 (Jocelyne BOUSSER / Aurore DEVAL - Les Ateliers Pédagogiques) got stuck leaving the CP7 on Route A: “There was hardly any sand, so I didn’t bother to air down.”
Hills of black and brown rock, sand that appeared yellow or pink, depending on the light… Team 167 (Emmanuelle HONORE / Gaëlle GALLIMARD - SNCF) got stuck in this soft sand. “We got cross-axled on the way to 8E”. The landscape offered a sensation of solitude that some Gazelles found stressful. When Team 125 (Dominique CREPIN. GUERIN / Beatrice Mennessier - SA WARLUZEL) reached CP 8 E and B, they were out of gas. “We forgot to fill up before the marathon leg! In 4 Rallyes, I’ve never done that before!” A 10-kilometre-wide crater lay between the Gazelles and the end of the day’s course. There was just one way in and one way out of the wide flat plain on the crater’s bottom; it would take some time to get out the other side. The buggy of Team 246 (Carole MONTILLET / Sylvie GODEAU GELLIE - Vakkorama) got stuck in the pass, causing a traffic jam. The intense vibrations over the rocky terrain caused their steering ball joint to break. Their front wheels are splayed out. They called for mechanical assistance, but cancelled the alert when some Gazelles arrived on the scene with the equipment they needed to hold the ball joint in place. Thirty pink vests gathered around to watch the scene, with Anne-Marie under the buggy. The repairs were quickly completed, the Gazelles applauded. The shower will feel good tonight!
The rankings will start to take shape after this first marathon leg. Tomorrow the Gazelles will confront a new set of dunes and another marathon leg, far from the bivouac.
