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Samir is from Zagora, in the south east of Morrocco.  His life as runner started when runners from the Marathon des Sables (Marathon of the Sands, known as ‘the toughest footrace on earth’) passed not far from his family home, 5km outside of Zagora.  He ran with them for miles trying to discover what are those crazy men and women were doing.  He heard one of the organisers of the race saying to the competitors "suivez la ligne electrique" to help guide them towards the finish line.  Samir did not speak French at the time,but the sentence stayed in his mind until he started learning French and found its meaning: "follow the power line".

 

A few years later Samir became further attracted to running by his brother Brahim, who was the first in Samir’s family to become a runner, and his other brother Lhoucine who was soccerplayer. 

 

Samir became addicted to running, especially during school sport activities,but it was not until 2005 that he started dedicated training for the first Zagora Marathon, organised by long-time family friends, the famous Ahansal brothers. After only 20 days of training, he placed 5thin this tough desert marathon. 

 

He was encouraged by his brothers and Lahcen Ahansal to start training regularly in preparation for his first Marathon des Sables in 2006.  He placed 6th.  Samir has now competed in the Marathon des Sables on 6 occasions, and has never placed outside the top 10.

  • 2005 – Extrême Marathon de Zagora (5th place).

  • 2006 – Extrême Marathon de Zagora (7th place)

  • 2006 –  21st Marathon des Sables (6th place, 4th team)

  • 2007 – 22th Marathon des Sables (8th place, 1st team)

  • 2008 – 23th Marathon des Sables (6th place,1st  team)

  • 2009 – 24th Marathon des Sables (7th place, 4th team)

  • 2011 – 26th Marathon des Sables (6th place, 1st team)

  • 2011 – Trail de Mont de Toubkal.

  • 2012 – Trail de Ouarzazate .

  • 2013 – Trail Atlas Tafraoute :65km /7éme /5h20’.

  • 2013 – 28th Marathon des Sables (6th place, 1st team)

  • 2014 - Morocco tizi n’trail 120km  2éme au général

    2014 -Trans Atlas Marathon 285km 6 étapes 14000M D+ / 2éme au général

  • 2015 - 30th Marathon des Sables (4th place, 2nd team)

  • 2015 - Trans Atlas Marathon 285km 6 étapes  14000M D+ / 2éme au général

  • 2015 - Full Moon Run 12km trail nocturne /  1er  au général.

  • 2015 - Utra trail Morocco Eco-Sahara 109km / 1er au général.

  • 2015 - La Saintélyon Raid Nocturne 72km 125éme au Général

  • 31st Marathon des Sables (6th place, 1ST team)

 

 

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