Stage 1 (22km) Chenini – Garat Douiri
The winner of the first stage was the event specialist Jorge Balle, with a time of 1:33, followed by the Tunisian Rouissi Abdelwahed and the Swiss Helmuth Steinacher.

Luisa Zecchino won the women's event from Paola Tagliavini and the American Susan Nowell.

Former New York City Marathon Champion Orlando Pizzolata led the stretching exercises beforehand, and finished 11th overall, while Laura Fogli, a world leading runner of the same vintage as Pizzolato, finished 5th in the women's section.

Afterwards everyone relaxed to a spectacular fokloric display to round off the first day's proceedings.

4 MARCH 2008: Stage 2 (19.8km) Garat Douiri – Camp Laaraj

After yesterday's difficult stage, Sharon Kovar, last years female winner and the Race's Promotions Manager for North America, had to pull out. She had not been well in recent months but still came to the race with a group of 27 runners and also attempted to compete. Now she will work solely as a member of the race staff for the remainder of the race.

The walkers started at 09.30 and the runners at 10.30 with much cooler conditions than yesterday. Light cloud and a little wind gave some relief to the runners. The course was also easier. The path was mostly flat with hard packed sand with few areas of deep sand to plough through.

There were check points at 10km and at 16.7km, after that runners could see the camp in the distance.

The stage was won by the Tunisians Adbelwahed Rouissi and Kelid Hezhi in 1:17:22, half a minute ahead of the Swiss Helmuth Steinacher in third place with the German Jorge Balle coming in just a few seconds behind him.

Afterwards runners prepared themselves for the Night event, which is included for the unique experience of running under the Saharan night sky.

4 MARCH 2008: Stage 3 (8km) Camp Laaraj circuit

As always the night event took place under a starry sky which only the Tunisian Desert can offer.

A group from Italian State Broadcasting RAI is participating of which the leader, Gianfranco Comanducci, is pictured with the former Italian champion Laura Fogli.

Runners were sent off in groups of four at 30 second intervals, and in the reverse of their order in the overall standings.

The stage was won by the Tunisian Kelid Hezhi ahead of Helmuth Steinacher. These two athletes have been the revelation of this 10th edition of the race. Third, but only a second further behind, was Jorg Balle, who controlled his effort in anticipation of the Marathon stage and of running on the Ksar Ghilane dune on the final day of the event. The expert German runner is the real specialist in this event and knows the tactics required to succeed.

Source: www.aims.org

Overall standings:
                            stage1   stage2   stage3  overall
MEN:
1  Jorge BALLE         GER  1:33:06  1:17:56  26:51   3:17:53
2  Abdelwahed ROUISSI  TUN  1:34:40  1:17:22  27:26   3:19:28
3  Helmuth STEINACHER  SUI  1:35:34  1:17:53  26:50   3:20:17
4  Hezhi KELID         TUN  1:37:48  1:17:23  26:08   3:21:19
5  Jamel SAGHRAOUI     TUN  1:44:52  1:20:35  27:55   3:33:22
6  Ivan ZUFFERLI       ITA  1:43:36  1:21:37  28:14   3:33:27
7  Kevin MUSCAT        MLT  1:49:34  1:24:33  30:16   3:44:23
8  Jamieson ARMSTRONG  CAN  1:49:43  1:27:23  30:17   3:47:23
9  Giulio SIMONELLI    ITA  1:48:34  1:30:37  33:05   3:52:16
10 Jose Romero PARRA   ESP  1:50:00  1:25:53  28:58   3:52:51

WOMEN:
1  Luisa ZECCHINO      ITA  2:02:08  1:33:47  33:32   4:09:27
2  Paola TOGLIAVINI    ITA  2:08:59  1:42:08  35:55   4:27:02
3  Susan NOWELL        USA  2:11:41  1:40:14  36:19   4:28:14
4  Cecilia FUENTES     MEX  2:16:16  1:46:43  40:41   4:43:40
5  Louise SIMMS        CAN  2:19:45  1:45:32  38:24   4:43:41
6  Carrie GATLIN       USA  2:17:37  1:48:02  39:22   4:45:01
7  Luigina ROSATI      ITA  2:17:09  1:47:55  40:02   4:45:06
8  Claudia GERLING     GER  2:18:50  1:50:42  35:35   4:45:07
9  Laura FOGLI         ITA  2:16:42  1:52:07  38:23   4:47:12
10 Jennifer GOURLY     CAN  2:25:28  1:46:14  36:27   4:48:09

March 2008