Marathon des sables, stage 2. Jorge Aubeso 3 de la etapa!!! vamos!!

Stage n°2 : KHERMOU/ JBEL OFTAL – 35 kmNumber of competitors beginning today’s stage : 756JBEL OFTAL Terrain: stoney piste, 3 jebels, valley, dunes, sandy oued Temperature : 38,5° at 14h.Hygrometry : 15% at 14hHot and sunny, slight breeze 3 CPs (check-points)
STAGE RANKINGS : Men :1- Mohamed AHANSAL (MOR –N°3) in 2h 50min
092- Lahcen AHNSAL (MOR N°1) in 2h50 min
Jorge AUBESO MARTINE (ESP N°-551) in 2h57 min
414- Abderrahmane MALIKI (MOR – N°25) in 2h 57 min 565-
Aziz EL AKAD (MOR- N°26) in 2h 59 min 37
6- Lhoucine AKHDAR (MOR – N°5) in 3h 06 min 59
7- Mustapha AIT AMAR (MOR –N°4) in 3h 14 min 41
8- Philippe REMOND (FR – N° 314) in 3h16 min 21
9- Marco OLMO (IT – N 400) in 3h 23min 22
Women:1- Laurence Fricotteaux (FR –N°347) en 3h56min 01 execo
Didi Touda (MOR – N°6) in 3h10 min 25 2-
3- Géraldine Courdesses (N°163 FR) in 4h16’

Race started at 8h45 under sunny skies. The 756 competitors on the course head for jebel Amessoui. 1.7km of flat stony piste, then into the valley. 4kms into the race they take a small path through jebel. Mohamed Ahansal (N°3, Mor) is the first to come through. Terrain is then largely flat and stony through to check-point 1 (km10) situated on edge of Tijekht oued, in the middle of acacia trees. Splendid view over jebel Hered Asfer. Abderrahmane MALIKI (MOR) is first through at 9h31, followed by Aziz EL AKAD (MOR) and Lhoucine AKHDAR (MOR). Just a few seconds behind, Lahcen AHANSAL and Jorge AUBESO. Competitors then have to climb jebel Hered Asfer, going along ridge. It’s a foretaste of what’s to come less than 10km further into the course. As the temperature climbs above 40°, competitors cross oued Rheris and reach CP3 (29.1km) at the foot of jebel Oftal. Lahcen AHANSAL is first through followed by brother Mohamed AHANSAL then Abderrahmane MALIKI. It’s a 1km climb up jebel Oftal with slope factor up to 30%! A cord suspended from the top of the mountain enabled runners to get over the ridge without slipping on the long sandy patches. By far the most demanding part of today’s course! As if that weren’t enough… 2kms of dunes to finish the stage. It’s a close finish : the AHANSAL brothers cross the line hand in hand followed 7 minutes later by Jorge AUBESO (SP) and Abderrahmane MALIKI (MOR) Lhoucine AKHDAR (MOR), had a problem with his right hip which cost him valuable time.On the women’s side, Touda DIDI (MOR) finishes alongside Laurence FRICOTTEAUX (FR) who had sacrificed a few precious minutes at CP3 giving a moral boost to marathon champion Dominique CHAUVELIER (N°313, FR), not on his best form. The champion of last year’s edition, Géraldine Courdesses (D163, France) struggled to finish the course due to an knee injury incurred this winter. Clearly in pain at CP3 just before the big climb she admitted she was « worried about not being able to finish ». She nevertheless finished in third position, proof, if proof were needed, that this runner has real bottle.Note that the 6km straight run at the foot of the Joua Baba Ali hills allowed the most experienced runners to get ahead, as reflected in the rankings.At 16h two competitors had withdrawn from the race.