Rachid El Morabity and Maryline Nakache produced Marathon des Sables masterclasses as they confirmed their victories in what is billed as ‘the toughest foot race on earth’.
Rachid was already a Marathon des Sables legend but he’s now a record breaker on his own as this was his 11th victory, one ahead of fellow Moroccan Lahcen Ahansal.
And Frenchwoman Nakache was repeating her 2023 triumph, a success set up by her stunning performance on the long 82.2km fourth stage which saw her distance her rivals and finish third overall too.
The sixth and final stage was ‘only’ a half marathon but here’s how Saturday’s race played out…
Men’s race – Cruise control for Rachid
It was relatively close between El Morabity brothers Rachid and Mohamed, just over four minutes separating them at the start.
But Rachid had paced things perfectly throughout the six-stage event, only really hitting top gear when he needed to, most notably on stage four when he took 10 minutes out of his brother to turn the overall standings on their head.
Stage five saw him add 40 seconds to his advantage and it was a similar story in the finale as he kept things under control and took another victory with a time of 1:41:03 to Mohamed’s 1:41:39.
That meant Rachid’s cumulative time was 20:55:47, with Mohamed on 21:00:50 and then there was a gulf back to Ahmed Ouikhalfen in third on 22:27:58 in an all-Moroccan podium.
Women’s race – Nakache well clear
Fourth overall and first woman by a significant margin was the outstanding Nakache.
But honours on the final day went to defending champion Aziza El Amrany of Morocco.
She was a couple of minutes ahead at checkpoint one and had doubled that by checkpoint two but Nakache, who started with a lead of an hour and 40 minutes, was never in any sort of danger.
Just a couple of minutes separated them on the finish line which all meant Nakache triumphed in an overall time of 23:57:20, with El Amrany at 25:36:23.
Japan’s Tomomi Bitoh rounded out the podium in 29:38:25.
That was less than half an hour in front of Belgium’s Annelies Brak who was left to rue a two-hour penalty earlier in the race when she failed a mandatory kit check.
2025 Marathon des Sables overall results – Sunday April 6 to Saturday April 12, 252km
MEN
- Rachid El Morabity (MAR) – 20:55:47
- Mohamed El Morabity (MAR) – 21:00:50
- Ahmed Ouikhalfen (MAR) – 22:27:58
WOMEN
- Maryline Nakache (FRA) – 23:57:20
- Aziza El Amrany (MAR) – 25:36:23
- Tomomi Bitoh (JPN) – 29:38:25
