Tomorrow we have the long day... maybe 20 hours, 8...2 km. It's going to be hard and I hope we get a good nights sleep tonight so we are fresh. It's hard to get a good night's sleep with so many people in the tent."

The organisers video shows some of the action from this part of the race, their comments about Stage 3 include:

"It was meant to be a straightforward stage. At least that’s what most competitors of this 25th Sultan Marathon des Sables would have made of what was written in their road-book. Some of them even joked on the start line: “After yesterday’s climbs, even if today’s stage is 5km longer, we might be able to reach our cruising speed…”

Mohamad Ahansal (1 - MOR) yet again wins the stage, before Salameh Al Aqra (391 -JOR) and Jorge Aubeso Martinez (989-SP) who gives an astonishing performance.

The best runners reach the bivouac around midday, their faces sometimes showing clear signs of exhaustion. For the lesser runners, the stage has now begun to feel like martyrdom.

At 22.km, on the dried up lake Ma’der El Kerbir, heat comes both from above and from below, reverberating from the spotlessly white ground. Competitors are gasping for some air, with the unpleasant sensation to be running in an oven."

Read more about our local runners via this link: harryandsimon.wordpress.com