Cactus, the dog participating in the Marathon des Sables
An unexpected competitor has invited himself among the participants in the Marathon des Sables, this ultratrail which takes place in the Sahara desert, in southern Morocco. This is Cactus, a stray dog renamed by the runners and whose performance is something to admire given the conditions imposed by this extreme race. Cactus decided to follow the runners from the second stage of this event which has 6 in total for a total distance of 250km, all in crushing heat which is around 50°C.And Cactus is doing remarkably well! After two stages, he finished in 52nd place overall out of the 1,000 participants in the race.
A mascot in great shape
Cactus quickly became the mascot of the runners he has been following for nearly 130km. The race organization even dedicated a video on Twitter to this extraordinary canine athlete. Because, despite the long distances covered under a blazing sun, the little dog is doing wonderfully. He even took up residence in the camp where he is fed, watered and pampered like a prince and shows no signs of fatigue as if he ignored the kilometers swallowed during the day. It now remains to be seen whether Cactus will be one of the finishers of the 2019 edition of the Marathon des Sables whose arrival is scheduled for Saturday April 13.
Cactus the MDS dog &x1f415;&x1f335;
A dog who started to follow runners during the second stage of the race.After finishing it, he took the start of the third and the fourth finishing them all.
He has run more than 120 km and is in good shape! Is treated as a prince here at the camp &x1f60d; MDS pic.twitter.com/4VGmwnGSr9- MARATHON DES SABLES (@marathonDsables) April 11, 2019
Previous canines
This is not the first time that a canine participant has been talked about in an extreme race by showing that he has it "in his paws" . Before Cactus, a desert dog had also followed a runner through the stages of a 250km race held in the Gobi desert in 2016. And, in 2018, a stray dog had accompanied an entire team to at the top of the Himalayas which, let's remember, culminates at more than 7000m!