MDS The Legendary 2025 – Stage 4

The feared ‘long day’ finally arrived, an 82.2km point-to-point adventure that would take the runner’s on a voyage of discovery as they explored the limits both physically and mentally.

A day with two starts, the majority of the field departing at 0600 and the top-50 inc the top-5 women leaving at 0730.

Darkness and the glow of head torches accompanied the early starters to CP1 and then they were confronted with the Ouzina Dune at 13km’s, a steep wall of sand that had to be climbed and then descended.

The terrain now mixed some sand, rocky plateau, stones and it remained this way all the way to the finish line. Nearly all participants were very happy with the terrain exclaiming it was ‘runnable,’ especially with overcast skies and lower temperatures.

As darkness came, the weather changed and the wind began to increase from the south. Storms arrived before midnight and they persisted for hours, on and off, creating tough sand storms, at time hard rain and quite simply, extremely challenging conditions.

The arrival of a new day gave life to the runner’s who were still on the close, approximately 100.

Pushing to the line, they endured physical pain, mental fatigue and they willed their bodies to achieve a remarkable finish. The last participants, Fung Yee May and Mathew Barrie, arriving just before 1300 in the afternoon, 30-hours, 36-minutes and 52-seconds. For perspective, this was 22-hours and 41-minutes after the first woman and 23-hours and 28-minutes after the first man.

At the front of the race, the top male contenders, Rachid, Mohamed and Hamid ran together to the large dune at 13km’s and then Rachid opened a gap.

Mohamed marked and ran with Hamid enabling Rachid to pull away. The gap opened up. By CP5 the gap was 8-minutes.

By the finish line, Rachid’s margin opened to 10-minutes 09-seconds bringing hime once again in to the race lead position.

Mohamed and Hamid – Photo by Ian Corless

At CP 5 it was apparent that Hamid was having some problems. He took longer than usual and he watered his legs. Mohamed left alone.

Later, Hamid withdrew from the race with injury allowing Ahmed Ouikhalfen to move into 3rd.

Stage 4 results:

Rachid El Morabity 07:08:13
Mohamed El Morabity 07:08:22
Ahmed Ouikhalfen 08:15:45

For the women, Maryline Nakache ran a masterclass race that may well rank as one of the best days ever for a female participant. She pushed the pace and not only did she finish almost 1-hour ahead of the 2024 MDS The Legendary champion, Aziza El Amrany, Maryline placed 3rd overall on the stage in 07:55:35 – remarkable!

Aziza El Amrany ran a strong day, she looked great, but she was no match for the French woman, she finished 2nd in 08:49:20.

Annelies Brak, once again had a great day finishing 3rd in 09:43:18, however, the previous day, she failed a mandatory kit check and received a 2-hour penalty, a crazy mistake which will no doubt cost her a podium place.

Tomomi Bitoh, who has been on the MDS podium previously ran a solid day for 4th in 10:02:07 and this result moves her to 3rd on the female ranking.

Stage 4 results:

Maryline Nakache 07:55:35
Aziza El Amrany 08:49:20
Annelies Brak 09:43:18

With 2-stages to go, 42.2km and 21.1km, there is much to race for, especially in the women’s race. Maryline and Aziza are secure in 1st and 2nd, however, 3rd is open for a challenge, just 1-hour separates Tomomi, Francesca Canepa and Annelies.

OVERALL RANKING after Stage 4