With the number 116 on his bike, Toni Marín (36 years old) arrived on Saturday afternoon, slightly after the rest of the competitors, to the Titan Desert camp in Boumalne Daes. The nearly 400 competitors were already resting, in their haimas, at their entrance, but Marín’s delay was justified … and more than enough. The Marathon des Sables had just finished! The test, which is also held in Morocco, It is one of the toughest on foot on the planet and was held from the 3rd to the 9th. The Titan started on the 10th and lasts until the 15th. In total, the Lleida runner would add 250 km on foot and 650 by bicycle through the desert, and both are extreme competitions. But … why these tests and consecutively? Consequences of the coronavirus and its postponements.
The Marathon des Sables was scheduled for April and the Titan Desert for May. Both were postponed, and Toni was targeted at both. So with the new dates, the dilemma arose. One or both ?: “When I found out, I spoke with a colleague and debated it. He said no, and I said yes. Our circumstances are different, but he told me it was crazy,” he tells AS. In addition, their participation in both tests has a solidarity purpose with the 5H Foundation, whose objective is to raise money to create a recreational space for people with disabilities in Lleida. “I couldn’t let my Titan team down. In Sables he was top-50, I went to compete to the max, and I come to enjoy the race on the Titan, without pressure,” he emphasizes. “Of course, the Marathon des Sables is to be done once in a lifetime, because it is pure destruction. The Titan Desert is different, this is my third, “he adds.
He became a professional roller hockey player, but conditions did not allow him to have the life he wanted. He is dedicated to sports, gives classes in directed activities and on Monday, October 18, he will return to the routine. “The idea is to finish on the 15th, return to Barcelona on the 16th, rest on Sunday and eat a good pizza … and on Monday, to work”, has a smile. Faced with this challenge, people around him asked him if he was sure what he was doing. “They call me crazy, but I hope to achieve it. When I told my boss, he looked at me a little badly (laughing), and all he asked me was to come back alive,” he says.. Now, “the drone of the Titan”, dreams of finishing the challenge: “It makes me very excited, besides that it is for a beautiful cause. If the feet respect, especially in the dune stages, I will have it within reach”. To begin with, in the first stage he entered around position 200, after more than six hours on the bike. “I held on well, one less.” And the countdown continues.