MDS The Legendary 2025 – Stage 6

The GOAT of the Sahara – Photo by Ian Corless

The 2025 and 39th edition of MDS The Legendary came to a conclusion with a 21.1km stage under cloudy skies with occasional rain.

A hard won reward – Photo by Ian Corless

The weather did not dampen the spirit of the runner’s though, they were elated, excited and happy knowing that no matter what, today, they would cross the final finish line and receive a medal.

The atmosphere on the start line was electric, especially with an unplanned live version of Highway to Hell by Reujen Lista.

The stage concluded at the iconic Merzouga Dunes and in reality, all the racing was done, at least for the top-3 positions in the men’s and women’s races.

Rachid El Morabity would be crowned champion for the 11th time, a record!

Maryline Nakache would be crowned champion for the 2nd time, this year though, her victory is extra special, she ranked 4th overall, an incredible result. Also notable, her time, was just over 2-hours slower than Rachid, 23:57:20 to Rachids’ 20:55:47.

Mohamed, Mbark and Rachid, unstoppable brothers – Photo by Ian Corless

For perspective, the last finisher was Tomohito Hirai in 75:49:27 and the last female finisher was Sarah Thomas Britton 74:01:23.

An incredible 847 were crowned ‘Legends’ when they crossed the line, a 95% success rate.

The 39th edition will be remembered for a calm ‘classic’ MDS start, temperatures were good, the wind was low and the skies were blue.

However, on stage 4, the long day, the winds increased under what was a cooler and cloudier day. By 2100 hours the wind was roaring, sand was blowing everywhere and suddenly heavy rains came making the conditions horrific for those out on the course and difficult for those in camp.

The cooler weather stayed for stage 5, however, it did brighten in the afternoon only to become windy once agin.

Stage 6 was cloudy and wet at the start and it remained that way for most of the day. The rain came, went, and came back again.

In brief summary, the 39th edition route introduced competitors new areas of the Sahara and stage 2 was considered the hell stage with a great deal of soft sand. Conditions were variable, despite the strong winds and some rain, cooler temperatures certainly made the race more manageable.

FULL RESULTS HERE

Photo Galleries HERE

The emotion on the finish line was electric, as always, from first to last, a whole rane of emotions were witnessed, the glow of a medal making the 6-stage, 250km journey a memorable life changing one.

The awards ceremony in Ouarzazate, may well have been the most memorable yet. The film was shown to a huge applause and then, we were all treated to a live performance by Reujen Lista who performed three songs, the last one, of course, Highway to Hell!