Solidarity - The Charity and last stage

Stage 6 is the Charity Stage - Its only 7km and all competitors are given a blue UNICEF charity t-shirt to wear. Most runners and walkers tended to stick together and pretty much everybody walked this last stage. There was no timing chip so nothing to be proved here.

Tent 109 were no exception, we walked pretty much the whole 7km together, only breaking out to chat with newly formed friends. The terrain was lots of soft sandy, a couple of small dunes and before you knew it, town was just around the corner.
We formed back together, went arm in arm and crossed the line for the final time.

Just that short walk had made me realise how different the walking experience would be as my back was starting to get stiff. No time for post race celebrations and although there was a mini carnival of locals at the end, we were ushered with our packed lunches onto the coaches and back to civilisation, well sort of.

Following the long journey we were greeted with a really nice hotel, the food wasn't great but there was plenty of it and that was a relief. Tom's parents even made a show of it and provided the 3 amigos with beer while queueing to get in the hotel :-)

The next morning we were offered the opportunity to visit a local school which is sponsored entirely by the Marathon des Sables. This year they have given 40,000 euros to the school which will fund them for another year and assist with their growth into new premises.

The school 'Solidarity' is a place where children can come and learn, they learn key life skills through play and sport and they also learn French which is essential for getting ahead in Morocco. The mothers are alos catered for too, they also attend the school, learn skills such as needle work and also to speak french. Following my short visit I am happy to say that I believe this charity is a great cause and I think that it is a credit to all those from the Marathon des Sables who have supported it. Here are a couple of pictures I took whilst there .... the kids were amazing ...  (pics to follow)