The 2026 Marathon des Sables is now underway, with competitors beginning their gruelling journey across the Moroccan Sahara on 3 April and the race running through to 13 April. Billing itself as the toughest foot race on earth, the multi-stage event covers approximately 250 kilometres distributed across six stages, with runners carrying their own food and equipment throughout. This year's course routes through the Ouarzazate region, taking in towering dunes, rocky hammada, and dry riverbeds that have made the MDS a defining event in endurance sport since its founding in 1986.
Among the men's favourites, Rachid El Morabity of Morocco — an extraordinary 11-time winner of the race — holds bib number one and begins the 2026 edition as the standout contender once again. El Morabity's dominance over the event is without parallel in modern ultra-distance racing; his ability to manage the multi-day demands of the Sahara, pacing effort across the long stage and the notorious Marathon Stage alike, has confounded rivals for well over a decade. Whether any of this year's international field can break his grip on the event remains the central sporting question of the week.
On the women's side, Maryline Nakache of France enters as a leading contender, alongside Morocco's Aziza El Amrany and a competitive international field drawn from across Europe, North America, and Africa. The women's race at the MDS has grown in prestige and depth considerably over recent editions, with times improving and tactical racing becoming more sophisticated. Unlike some ultras where the elite field is thin, the MDS women's competition often produces close multi-day battles where a single bad stage can overturn hours of accumulated advantage.
The logistical scale of the Marathon des Sables is as impressive as its athletic demands. Across 2026's field, competitors from more than 50 nations will share Berber-style bivouac camps each evening, sleeping under the open desert sky in a strip of shared space roughly the width of a sleeping mat. The race organisation deploys hundreds of staff, medical personnel, and support vehicles across the remote course, with a fleet of helicopters on standby for medical evacuations. Mandatory kit lists are strictly enforced: each runner must carry a minimum caloric load, a signalling mirror, a snake bandage, and an anti-venom pump — the realities of racing through some of the most isolated terrain on the planet.
For amateur runners completing their first MDS, the 2026 edition represents the culmination of months or years of preparation, often incorporating training camps in the Canary Islands, heat acclimatisation protocols, and carefully tested nutrition strategies. The charity fundraising dimension of many competitors' participation adds another layer of purpose to what is already an extreme undertaking. Finishing the Marathon des Sables carries a weight of achievement that few sporting experiences can match — and for those currently out on the Sahara, every step taken across the sand brings that finish line a little closer.