23 Jan Stage Two: The Desert Forest
Day two of the 8th edition of the annual Oman Dessert Marathon (ODM) kicked off January 22nd in Wilayat Bidiyah from Tawi Rashid.
The route was a distance of 55 km, and the top three performers for the day were Moroccan brothers Mohammed and Rachid El Morabity, with finishing times of 5:11:57 and 5:12:26 respectively, and Oman’s Saleh Alsaidi who finished 5:43:42.
On the women’s side, Morocco’s Aziza Al Amrany came in first with a finishing time of 7:07:35, followed by Switzerland’s Corina Summer at 7:18:10 and Moroccan Aziza Raji at 7:22:38.
The overall standing after day two on the men’s side is Mohammed El Morabity, followed by Rachid El Morabity, and Saleh Alsaidi, and on the women’s side Aziza Al Amrany, followed by Corina Sommer and Aziza Raji.
Today’s 42 km night run (january 23rd) has already started, with some runners beginning at 12 pm, and others at 4 pm.
The race started with 42 runners on day one, and it continued on day two with 39 runners, after three had quit (due to injuries and back problems), and its going into day three with 37 runners, after a further two backed out.
Still in the race is 70-year-old surgeon who spent 17 hours making it through yesterday’s route.