Mohamad Ahansal has entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for the Most Wins of Marathon ‘des Sables’ (MDS) with ten wins. MDS is a multiday race that is held every year in Morocco’s southern Sahara Desert.
Mohamad is a Moroccan of Amazigh hailing from near the desert town of Zagora in the Sahara Desert in Morocco. His earliest life was spent as a nomad, living under the shelter of a goat-hair tent with his family who subsided off the land and their herd of goats and sheep. Mohamad says that there is no life so hard, so tough as that of the desert nomad.
Considered to be the toughest running race in the world, the Marathon des Sables is a six-day ultradistance event that covers 254 km (156 miles) across the Sahara Desert in Morocco. Temperatures can be extreme, with possible daytime highs reaching 125°F (51C) and night-time lows of 38°F (3C). Additionally, the occasional sandstorm can add to the mix.
Guinness World Records, known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as The Guinness Book of Records and in previous United States editions as The Guinness Book of World Records, is a reference book published annually, listing world records both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. The brainchild of Sir Hugh Beaver, the book was co-founded by twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter in Fleet Street, London, in August 1955.
