Students Challenge Morocco

DAY 1 - TOULOUSE – December 27 2008

On December 27th 2008, Toulouse, the "departure city", will play host to the participants of the Students Challenge.
Participating teams, business sponsors and participating schools will come together in the “departure village”. Technical and administrative verifications (vehicle conformity, passport numbers, insurance, drivers’ licenses), medical interview with a doctor.

DAYS 2 & 3 – FRANCE / MOROCCO – December 28/29

Travel to Morocco. Teams are on their own for the drive to Algéciras.
They will meet at the port of Algéciras for the boat crossing to Tangiers. After reaching Tangiers, the participants will drive to Marrakech, where they will spend the night.

LEG 1 – December 30 2008
TRANSPORT STAGE 303 km – SPECIAL STAGE 33 km – TRANSPORT STAGE 42 km

The competitors leave MARRAKECH, the "Ochre City". They will be following one of the most beautiful routes in the country on their way to the great Moroccan south… The itinerary includes crossing the delightful TICHKA Plateau at 2260 m, and the incomparable landscapes of the High Atlas.


The route will pass through increasingly arid landscapes until finally reaching the adventure’s first playground. A short "Special stage" will allow the competitors to get their bearings. Not many difficulties along these winding trails in the middle of oueds and pastoral villages. The "Special stage" ends at the gates of FOUM ZGUID.
Then a short drive to the bivouac, where they will be staying for the days to come. The horizon is far and the spaces are wide, here at the edge of the much-awaited desert… 

 

 

  

  

LEG 2 (loop) – FOUM-ZGUID / FOUM-ZGUID – December 31st 2008
SPECIAL STAGE 115 km – TRANSPORT STAGE 30 km

After spending a first night tickled by the breath of the desert, the participants set out to discover more lonely landscapes.
Now the real adventure begins. Precision in reading the road-books and regularity in driving will lead the participants to the wide open spaces of M'DAWER.

This mineral universe enjoys a palette of varied and well-balanced shapes and colours. Today’s landscapes feature “dinosaur crest" or "tajine pot" mountains, sandy oueds, barren plateaus. Even nomads are rare here…
Return to the bivouac around 5:00 pm. It is time to get ready to celebrate the first minutes of 2009 under the starry Moroccan desert sky… New Year’s Eve is here!

 

 

LEG 3 – FOUM-ZGUID / LAKE IRIKI – January 1st 2009
SPECIAL STAGE 116 km

After a New Year that is sure to be one of the exceptional memories of this second edition of the Students Challenge, the great explanation is emerging. Marathon Leg, and they’re off ... for two days of trail driving, orientation and helping each other out.
Like the previous day, not many dwellings in these arid landscapes, almost lunar in appearance.

Here the participants will cross the famous "Dakar" trail. They then have to cross the formidable LAKE IRIKI, a vast dried salt lake bed. Out on the lake, its sheer size, flat and uninterrupted, has an unreal quality.
The leg comes to an end a bit further on, at the foot of the high dunes of "ERG EL MHAZIL".
This is a marathon leg, so a rustic open-air bivouac awaits the competitors. Tonight the teams must prepare their own supper. No generator, no lights, but instead a starry night sky that is sure to tempt the more romantic at heart to stay up a little later than usual...

LEG 4 – LAKE IRIKI / BANI-MOUSSI – January 2nd 2008
SPECIAL STAGE 101 km – TRANSPORT STAGE 77 km

After a night of complete calm in the shelter of the dunes, on this second day of the marathon the competitors will once again cross the immensity of Lake Iriki. Without a doubt, precise navigation will be the key to success for the first part of this leg.
The landscapes are still just as majestic. Not a very difficult route… apart from the many sandy oueds where solidarity is a must.

The Special Stage comes to an end near Foum-Zguid. The competitors head for BANI MOUSSI for another great moment of the rally: operation "GREEN DAY", a chance to lend a hand and share with the local population while continuing the planting and irrigation of the village’s palm grove, an action that was begun during the first edition of the Students Challenge.

At the end of the day, the whole village comes out to welcome the participants and to display, once again, the famous Moroccan hospitality.

 

 

 

LEG 5 – BANI MOUSSI / AGADIR – January 3rd 2008
TRANSPORT STAGE 301 km – SPECIAL STAGE 42 km – TRANSPORT STAGE 135 km

Departure for an imposing Transport Stage though the rugged terrain and scenery of the ANTI-ATLAS, a fantastic route in the heart of valleys and mountains, where it seems that nothing could exist except for this rocky world. The competitors reach the great natural granite amphitheatre of TAFRAOUTE for the start of the day’s Special Stage.

A "Special" without major difficulty but in an incredible universe, where nothing makes sense; everything looks like a figment of someone’s imagination… A landscape painted in shades of yellow, pink and ochre, with rocks that seem sculpted by man and strange round blocks scattered here and there as if for some giant game of marbles...
This is where Belgian artist Jean Vérame painted his famous blue rocks.

Today’s "Special" ends on a high plateau where villages seem to loom out of nowhere. A last Transport Stage follows a sumptuous road along a deep valley, leading the competitors to AGADIR... and a return to civilization...

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEG 6 – AGADIR / ESSAOUIRA – January 4th 2008
TRANSPORT STAGE 86 km – SPECIAL STAGE 57 km – TRANSPORT STAGE 30 km

After spending a comfortable night in a hotels in the Moroccan seaside resort of Agadir, today will be quite “different” for the competitors. In fact, the contrast will be more than just an illusion... Until yesterday, the mineral kingdom was omnipresent; today, it is the Atlantic ocean, coastal landscapes, small fishing ports and argan groves that will dazzle the eyes that have already seen so much!

After a lovely winding rod, the last "jousts" of the competition will take place on a magnificent coastal road between the ocean and the "scrubland" of the "HAHA" region. Last points, last kilometres will close the ranking of this second STUDENTS CHALLENGE.

A few kilometres further on, the adventurers reach ESSAOUIRA, formerly known as MOGADOR. At the end of the afternoon, the medina, a UNESCO heritage site, and the gates of MOGADOR will open to welcome the competitors for the prize giving and closing celebrations.