Marathon des Sables – The Legendary : STAGE 2 2024

Time allowance 13-hours / 0700am start

Stage 2, a beautiful stage of 40.8km’s travelling north to B2. This area of the Sahara has been used on multiple Marathon des Sables and rightly so, it’s an area that offers excellent terrain and visual splendour.

The opening km’s to 6.3km ease the runner’s into the day and then the following km’s to CP1 at 12km are a challenge that sap energy.

CP2 comes at 25km however, the inclusion of an additional water station at 19.8km makes the stage more manageable.

Cold water at the checkpoints help runner’s cool off

Although the presence of soft-sand is minimal, the terrain is hard and energy sapping. CP2 to CP3 is just 8km (33km total) and then the final run in to 40.8km concludes the day.

Sand, golden light and mountain backdrops

With an 0700 start, camp was alive with. head torches as runner’s prepared for the day. A mild night and finally, the wind disappeared.

At the start, temperatures were around 12-degrees and they stayed low till around 0900 and then the mercury rose to a predicted high of 33-degrees.

The first downhill of the day for James Miller (ZA)

Although Rachid El Morabity had a lead early on, the day was very much neutralised for the top runners in Mohamed El Morabity and Aziz Yachou. They have respect for the long day on stage 3 and they all know this will be a crucial decider for potential overall victory.

Mohamed, Rachid and Aziz all finished roughly together and with stage 2 complete, the time are 5:22:47, 5:23:14 and 5:23:16 for Mohamed, Rachid and Aziz respectively.

Aziza El Amrany unstopple for this 38th edition.

The women’s race had the same format as stage 1 with Aziza El Amrancy forging ahead for another stage win and a more substantial time gain, her time now 6:54:06 in comparison to 7:40:32 for Aziz Raji who also finished 2nd on the stage.