Maltese athletes Andrew Abela and Thomas Cremona are three days into the epic desert race Marathon des Sables which is once again being held in the Moroccan desert following various postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the seven-day race athletes run a total distance of 250km split in various stages across the desert.
Participants have to carry their own supplies including food, camping materials, and survival gear along with water rations supplied by the race organization.
The two Maltese athletes have had mixed fortunes in the first stages of the race. Unfortunately, Thomas Cremona needed to receive treatment for some severe blisters. He also had to be given additional water supplies which led to a 6 hour 15 minute penalty dropping him to 643rd position.
However, he has been fighting back and has since climbed back to 492nd position as at time of writing.
On the other hand, Andrew Abela has shown a steady increase in performance over the first three stages of the race. He placed 161st on stage 1, 88th on the 2nd stage and 65th on the 3rd stage. He currently holds the 79th position in the overall ranking.
The two athletes are being continuously monitored and advised by their coach Kevin Zammit who has been guiding them in their preparations all along. Kevin has already successfully guided other Maltese Marathon de Sables participants in the past namely athletes Steve Chetcuti and Daniel Agius who had completed the gruesome challenge placing 75th and 368th out of 934 participants in the 2018 edition of the race.
