Madrid (Spain) (SPS)- The 23rd edition of the Sahara Marathon, the most important sporting event in the Saharawi refugee camps and of international importance for its solidarity and nature, was presented in Madrid.
Press conference at the Saharawi Delegation in Spain
On 28 February, the 23rd Sahara Marathon 2023 will take place in the Saharawi refugee camps, near the Algerian town of Tindouf, in collaboration with various local institutions and the Saharawi Athletics Federation.
In a ceremony held at the Saharawi Delegation in Spain, the parties involved in this significant sporting event shared with the press and interested parties about the objectives, as well as the nationalities and number of athletes that will be held in the Saharawi refugee camps.
With a charter flight organised for international athletes (Madrid -Tindouf-Madrid), the organisation has specified that so far there will be 300 registered athletes from 23 countries.
For the coordinator of the Sahara Marathon, Brahim Chej Breh, this edition will carry the slogan “fight for your freedom, even if it is against the wind”: “With the aim of raising international awareness of the struggle in Western Sahara, the Sahara Marathon is, in short, a true reflection of the Saharawi struggle: it is a race of endurance to our goal, which is the freedom of Western Sahara”.
For the athlete Martín Fiz, winner of the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports and world champion in Göteborg 95, “my participation in the previous edition was very enriching: “My experience as a competitor, those days I went to do my best. I arrived with an injury and when I saw all the people how I was resisting, I managed to get there. I didn’t win the marathon, but I did win a battle: to give visibility to the struggle for a Free Sahara”, added Fiz.
For his part, the athlete Jesús España, one of the best athletes of the last decade, also wanted to encourage further consolidation of the sporting event, which combines sport and solidarity as ingredients for success.
Committed to the fight against Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Jesús España has announced his desire to participate in the next edition to give visibility and help “to reach the goal of a cause that is just”.
Ana Belén Agüero, founder of Corredores Solidarios Madrid, has also sent a message to encourage athletes and supporters to join the Sahara Marathon. Agüero has pointed out that she will take advantage of her participation in this edition to “give visibility to the fight against Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and help the Saharawi refugees with the donation of equipment that has been collected”.
On behalf of the Ministry of Youth and Sport of the Saharawi Republic, Ahmed Mahmud Mami, responsible for Cooperation, expressed his gratitude to all the people and entities that make this event possible and reiterated the firm commitment of the Saharawi ministry to promote sport in the harsh conditions of exile.
“We understand that sport is also a way to preserve future generations and a way to contribute to the struggle of our people,” he concluded.
To conclude, the delegate of the Polisario Front in Spain, Abdulah Arabi, acknowledged that “this year is very special, it reminds us that all this we are doing is a consequence of a political conflict and a war in which we have been involved for 47 years”.
By them he meant “the unfinished decolonisation by Spain and the non-fulfilment of obligations in Western Sahara”.
The Saharawi diplomat also acknowledged that “sincere solidarity, which is consolidated with the Sahara Marathon, the FiSahara Festival and the programme of holidays in peace, has allowed us to resist and endure the damage done to the Saharawi people by the international community and Morocco, with the complicity of the various governments of Spain”.
Renewing the rejection of the position of Pedro Sánchez’s government, Abdulah Arabi insisted on developing and reinforcing solidarity through events such as the Sahara Marathon.
The celebration of the sporting event is already of national and international relevance, which helps to promote sport in the refugee camps and raise awareness of the situation of the Sahrawi population.
The race has four modalities: 42 km (El Aaiún – Smara), 21 km (Auserd – Smara), 10 km (Smara), 5 km (Smara) and Children’s Race (adapted to all ages).
