Oman Desert Marathon 2019 – Stage 4

The Forth stage began very different from yesterday, it was a sunny morning and very humid. The sand was almost wet and very easy to approach as it has compacted a little, which made it easier for runners to move forward with no extra effort. This stage is in preparation of marathon tomorrow afternoon, where runners will have to take advantage of the light while they have it, for the run under the starry sky of the desert.

At 6:30 am participants started with the first  kilometer that consisted  of small dunes, one descends, and a road crossing, followed by 22 km of small compact dunes. At km 5 there was the first check point where we waited for some runner’s impressions. The landscape had a lot of small vegetation, making the view a little greener.

Runners found this stage the hottest so far, very different for the uncommon cloudy day they had yesterday. However, the temperatures were not higher than 30 degrees Celsius, but the level of humidity raised as we are closer to the sea. It was very critical to hydrate and take salts at this stage.

Once at kilometer 10, some runners had a longer rest at benefiting for a bit of the shade of the tent, and a few of them felt already drained and cero energy. It was at 8:40 am Lorenzo Doris wanted to drop and asked to be taken to camp, he was encouraged by friends in a very emotional try to cheer  him up  while he recovered.

When there were only 8 km to go, we checked on the runners at the last check point,  we came across Rob Ward, also known as the weather man, who lost his thermometer so we could not have his daily report. Oliver Vriesendorp from The Nederlands went ahead as soon as he finished refilling his bottle and was followed by Dörte Schreinert from Germany who had a good speed today in spite of the weather.

Doctors went to check on runners that were struggling as they were concerned of their safety. Sadly, Lorenzo decided to withdraw from the race having covered 12 km in total.

The runner Anna Baruzzi from Italy had some serious blisters that slower her down, so she had to be taken out at 14 km.  She spent too much time under the sun and was suffering a bit of a heat stroke.

The first arrivals at the finish line after running 28 km were Rachid Amorality from Morocco, followed by his brother Mohammed Almurabity and on third place Evgeni Glyva from Ukraine.

On the women side Aziza Raji was in first place, Emmanuelle Romanzi on second and Pizzali Fabiana 3rd place.

RESULTS STAGE 4

OVERALL RESULTS @ STAGE 4

Photografer: Salim Alhajri