Sahara Marathon 2027

Some marathons you run for the scenery, others for the time, and a few, rarer ones, you run above all for others 🧡. The Sahara Marathon belongs to this last category. Every year at the end of February, it brings together runners from all over the world in the Sahrawi refugee camps, near the city of Tindouf, in the desert of southwestern Algeria. A charity event with no commercial aim, run by volunteers, it blends sport with human connection in an extraordinary setting 🏜.

Four distances, plus a children’s race, make up the program. The marathon of 42.195 km symbolically links three camps, starting in El Aaiún, passing through Auserd and finishing in Smara 🏃. Alongside it, the 21 km half marathon, a 10 km and a 5 km (running open to all) allow everyone to take part at their own level. The course, mostly flat, alternates hard-packed earth, stones and stretches of soft sand, with water and fruit aid stations every 2.5 km 💧. Limited to around 400 runners, the event is above all an inside experience: participants stay with Sahrawi families, share their meals and discover their daily life 🤝.

The setting, meanwhile, commands respect 🌅. Here lies the hammada, this desert of stones and rocky plateaus swept by the wind, dotted here and there with majestic dunes around Dakhla. February days remain mild, around 20 to 25°C, but night falls quickly and turns icy under a vast sky studded with stars ⭐. Between the wilayas, these camp-villages named after cities in the Western Sahara, runners move through a nature as harsh as it is fascinating, far from classic urban marathons 🐫.

Behind the race lies a long history 📖. Launched in 2001 at the initiative of American Jeb Carney, the Sahara Marathon has become, over the years, one of the most distinctive marathons on the planet. The race’s mission is to keep the world’s attention on this situation, with no other demand than solidarity 🌍.

The spirit of the event can be summed up in one word: sharing 🫖. Registration fees and volunteers’ commitment fund concrete humanitarian projects, from the distribution of food baskets to the development of sport among young Sahrawis. On site, Sahrawi hospitality leaves a lasting impression on visitors: you’ll be offered tea at any hour, and custom dictates that you accept at least three glasses. Far from any performance, the race becomes a bridge between cultures, a moment of humanity at the heart of the African continent 🌙.

Beyond the race, the week spent in the camps leaves a deep mark ✨. Between guided visits, meals shared in the dunes, starry nights and long conversations, runners often return transformed, well beyond their finishing time. Many forge bonds with their host families that last long after they return 🧡.