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With a comfortable victory on the sixth stage of the 38th MARATHON DES SABLES LEGENDARY, Rachid EL MORABITY claimed his tenth title. His brother Mohamed and Aziz YACHOU complete the podium.
Short and rolling, the sixth stage of the 38th MARATHON DES SABLES LEGENDARY was completed in a blink of an eye: 1h22'05''. And the man who set the fastest time was Rachid EL MORABITY (D3-MAR), two seconds ahead of his compatriot Aziz YACHOU (D10-MAR). Third place went to Mohamed EL MORABITY (D1-MAR), the title holder and overall leader by 35 seconds at the start this morning. Suspense: has Rachid made up enough time on his brother to move ahead in the overall standings? The seconds ticked away on the finish line... And it was finally Mohamed's turn to cross the line 1 minute 10 seconds late. Rachid takes the lead! And Mohamed takes second place, almost 2 minutes ahead of Aziz.
RACHID EQUALS LAHCEN
With this turnaround and this new victory, Rachid EL MORABITY becomes the second man to have won the MARATHON DES SABLES LEGENDARY 10 times. Lahcen AHANSAL won for the first time in 1997, then every edition from 1999 to 2007.
Rachid was beaming at the finish line: "I'm very happy to have won. See you next year. Aziz, second in the stage and third overall, had mixed feelings: "I'm happy, but I'll be back next year and I'll be stronger and better trained. Mohamed, second in the 38th MDS LEGENDARY, was very happy for his brother: "Rachid has won ten times, which is good. I wasn't feeling well yesterday. Today was fine. We'll be back next year. "
ZOOM ON THE TOP 15
As expected, Hamid YACHOU (D11-MAR) ran very fast today, giving Yoann STUCK (D851-FRA) no chance, and he was delighted with his fifth place in his first race: "Frankly, I'm very happy, it was a crazy experience.
Mérile ROBERT (D33-FRA) retained her place in the Top 10, confirming her extreme consistency over 7 participations, despite an unprecedented bout of heat.
Mbark ELMORABITY (D20-MAR) took a magnificent 12th place in his first race. Little brother of Rachid and Mohamed, Mbark is a new addition to the ELMORABITY siblings.
Stéphane RICARD (D30-FRA), a snowshoe race specialist, also put in a fine performance, finishing 14th in his first race.
CLASSIFICATION STAGE 6
CLT | BIB | RUNNER | TEAM | NAT | TIME |
1 | 3 | Rachid EL MORABITY | TGCC | MAR | 1:22:05 |
2 | 10 | Aziz YACHOU | SOFAC | MAR | 1:22:07 |
3 | 11 | Hamid YACHOU | SOFAC | MAR | 1:23:05 |
4 | 209 | James MILLER |
| RSA | 1:32:30 |
5 | 851 | Yohann STUCK |
| FRA | 1:32:32 |
FINAL CLASSIFICATION 38TH MARATHON DES SABLES LEGENDARY
CLT | BIB | RUNNER | TEAM | NAT | TIME |
1 | 3 | Rachid EL MORABITY | TGCC | MAR | 20:42:19 |
2 | 1 | Mohamed EL MORABITY | TGCC | MAR | 20:42:44 |
3 | 10 | Aziz YACHOU | SOFAC | MAR | 20:44:37 |
4 | 11 | Hamid YACHOU | SOFAC | MAR | 22:56:41 |
5 | 851 | Yoann STUCK |
| FRA | 23:00:14 |
*Provisional rankings