From here, the big dunes waited and what a magnificent sight they are. Stretching far and wide, they are a relentless rollercoaster of torture for the participants.
Rachid and Mohamed, not surprisingly, dictated the pace from the start, often running side-by-side and chatting. They are true masters of this terrain and they make it look ridiculously easy.
In many resects, the writing was on the wall and it was once again Mohamed who beat Rachid to the line, this time, just by seconds. For the Alsadai brothers, Saleh finished 3rd and secured his 3rd overall on GC.
Aziza was too strong for the chasing duo and took another victory. This time, Corina broke away from Raji and managed to claw back over 4-minutes for the GC.
The 4-stage, 165-km, 2023 Oman Desert Marathon started today with a challenging 47-km stage.
After a 3-year hiatus due to the Covid Pandemic, it was once again a pleasure to see runner’s travelling through the Oman Desert in self-sufficiency. The only items provided to participants is water and a place to sleep at the end of each day.
The atmosphere at the start was one of celebration with local vip’s present and many locals who would participate in the ‘free’ 10km, 5km and a 2km kids race.
Rachid and Mohamed played cat an mouse but in the last significant dune section, with just over 10-km’s to go, Mohamed opened a gap which he held to the line crossing in 3:53:31. Rachid surprisingly came in over 7-minutes later. The earlier hard pace set by Sami Alsaidi took it’s toll and it was Saleh who finished 3rd.
Aziza El Amrany looked very strong for the first two-thirds of the day but later looked to be suffering in the heat. She never lost her lead though and finished in 5:31:29. Despite Corina looking strong all day, Aziza Raji played the waiting game and pounced in the latter third of the day taking 2nd place in 5:37:53 to 5:45:57 for the Swiss.
I am pleased to announce that Sondre Amdahl will join us as a special guest at our Lanzarote Training Camp which will take place in just 1-week at Club La Santa.
Sondre is an experienced and highly successful ultra-runner. In 2016, he placed in the top-10 overall at the Marathon des Sablesand he also had a very successful race at the Oman Desert Marathon later in the year placing 6th.
Recently he won a 115km race in Hong Kong and he is now in his final preparations to race The Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica in February (preview HERE).
Needless to say, Sondre will be a great addition to the training camp and his advice on kit, training, food and survival in a multi-day race will enhance everyones training camp experience.
As a reminder, we also have the 2015 Marathon des Sables and Oman Desert Marathon ladies champion, Elisabet Barnes as head-coach for the entire week.
Our 2017 Training Camp is full but we are already taking bookings for 2018 HERE
You can also read daily reports from the 2016 edition HERE
This is Episode 100 of Talk Ultra. Yes, episode 100! We speak with multi-day expert Elisabet Barnes about her recent victory at Oman Desert Marathon and plans for 2016. We also speak to Anna Comet Pascual who won the Everest Trail Race in 2014 and just recently in 2015 and in addition made a huge impression on the 2015 Skyrunning calendar. Niandi talks cycling in Talk Training and Speedgoat is back!
100 episodes! wow
“100 episode is not that far….!” you gotta say it Speedgoat!
00:01:30 Show Start
00:20:16 NEWS
Help Nepal – Nepal images ‘FACES of NEPAL’ – order a print and all funds donated to Nepal charities HERE
TRAINING CAMP in Lanzarote with Elisabet Barnes 28th Jan to Feb 4th HERE
2 – Pedro DeLa Barca, AJ Calitz and Christian Grayling all 2nd 14:57
1 – Landie Grayling 18:05
2 – Misty Weyers 21:36
3 – Riana van der Merwe 26:16
TUNNEL HILL 100-Mile
Notable result here as Mike Bialick ran a super fast 12:52 coming very close to Ian Sharman’s 12:44 at Rocky Raccoon. Needless to say, no other runners came close to Mike and we plan to catch up with him for the next show!
CHIMERA 100
Nikki Kimball got herself another 100-mile victory in 23:19 and Mark Hammond won for the men in 18:59.
OMAN DESERT MARATHON
1 – Rachid El Morabity 13:19
2 – Evgini Giyva 13:53
3 – Sami Alsaidi 14:15
1 – Elisabet Barnes 18:37
2 – Aziza Alraji 20;32
3 – Silvia Amodio 22:46
00:34:10 INTERVIEW with ELISABETH BARNES
01:09:09 TALK TRAINING this week Niandi Carmont tells us about how she has included cycling in her training. Read Cycling for Runners HERE
Episode 99 of Talk Ultra we talk all about ELS2900 with RD Matt Lefort and 3rd place overall, Andy Symonds. Sophie Grant talk Raid de la Reunion and Paul Giblet from the UK wins Javekina Hundred beating Speedgoat! Niandi is here too looking like a Druid.
00:01:30 Show Start
00:07:50 NEWS
Help Nepal – Nepal images ‘FACES of NEPAL’ – order a print and all funds donated to Nepal charities HERE
TRAINING CAMP in Lanzarote with Elisabet Barnes 28th Jan to Feb 4th HERE
IAN CORLESS 