El Morabity and Barnes continue upfront
The third stage of this year’s Marathon des Sables at 31.6km had only two checkpoints. The Moroccans remained in front with overall leader Rachid El Morabity winning the stage and adding a further minute to his overall lead. Abdelaziz Baghazza stepped up to take second place in a joint time with Mohamed El Morabity. Fourth place in the stage was taken by Abdelkader El Mouaziz dropping Britains Thomas Evans to fifth place.
Overall Rachid El Morabity has a ten minute lead over second place El Moauaziz with Mohamed El Morabity in third place by only two seconds.
| Place | Name | Time |
| 1st | Rachid El Morabity | 2:33:14 |
| 2nd | Abdelaziz Baghazza | 2:34:26 |
| 3rd | Mohamed El Morabity | 2:34:26 |
Top Brits
Andy Symonds had another solid day and retains his place as second Brit behind Thomas Evans. Symonds has a sixteen minute gap to close which is achievable in tomorrow’s long stage of 86.2km. Damian Hall had a strong third day, taking third place and also third Brit overall as Andrew Fargus slipped back giving away a costly thirty minutes.
| Place | Name | Time |
| 5th | Thomas Evans | 2:38:53 |
| 7th | Andy Symonds | 2:44:53 |
| 14th | Damian Hall | 3:12:16 |
Sweden’s Elisabet Barnes and 2015 MDS winner looks serene as she gained a further two minutes today to make her overall lead exactly twenty four minutes on second placed Nathalie Mauclair from France. Brazilian Fernanda Maciel placed third today and is third overall twenty five minutes behind and with a thirty nine minutes lead on fourth placed Emilie Lecomte.
| Place | Name | Time | |
| 1st | Elisabet Barnes | 3:13:07 | 16th overall |
| 2nd | Nathalie Mauclair | 3:15:14 | 17th overall |
| 3rd | Fernanda Maciel | 3:27:11 | 29th overall |
Other contenders
Melanie Rousset 3:28:02
Emilie Lecomte 3:33:44
Aziza Raji 3:47:23
Top Brits
| Place | Name | Time |
| 109th | Jennifer Hill | 3:18:45 |
| 173rd | Josephine Adams | 3:40:13 |
| 189th | Susannah Chan | 3:43:22 |
ian campbell adventures 