Touda Didi – What it means to be part of the team

We’re finally nearing the start of Marathon des Sables 2017 and we’re in Morocco together to enjoy tapering and relaxing together in this gorgeous sunshine!

 

To me, being part of this team has meant everything. I never thought I’d again secure the chance to race Marathon des Sables and after winning it twice in past years, this opportunity is everything to me. Fitting in training with my full time job has been difficult, but we all make time for the things we love doing so in some ways it has been quite easy. 

 

I cannot thank X-Bionic and Raidlight enough for providing us with the kit we need to race this event and I’m so proud to be part of a women’s team that is so fiercely promoting female participation in sport in Morocco. Hopefully we’re inspiring women all over the world too! To think that someone might be reading this and is inspired to take up running is quite something.

 

The truth is it takes a huge amount of patience if you want to become a runner in Morocco. I’ve had so many setbacks along the way and it has been difficult to keep the faith throughout. My goal for this year’s race is therefore to give it my all and to be amongst the first finishers of the race, to meet new people and to help women everywhere understand there are no boundaries in sport - age, sex, nationality - it is all irrelevant.

 

We have an amazing team captain in Jenny, she has been a constant support and source of encouragement and we just can’t wait to get to the desert together and have the hardest most fun week of our lives!

 

After this year’s Marathon des Sables, we’re planning a varied programme to get more Moroccan women involved in sport and we’d love to hear from you if that is something that’s of interest to you. We’re looking to create a new race for women here in Morocco and to start weekly free training sessions for women here to train together in groups.