Cactus the dog finishes Marathon des Sables

Cactus the dog was among the first across the line on Friday at the Marathon des Sables in Morocco. The story started near the end of the second stage of the 34th Marathon des Sables, when a couple of runners tweeted that a stray male dog had joined them briefly, and then disappeared. Then he came back. The runners figured he would give up and go home at some point, but this dog is no quitter.

Rachid just finished in first position followed by his brother Mohamed ??#MDS2019 #MARATHONDESSABLES pic.twitter.com/WEwD2gHdXd

— MARATHON DES SABLES (@marathonDsables) April 12, 2019

RELATED:A dog named Cactus might win the Marathon des Sables

Cactus, as he was named, cross the finish line of the race on Friday afternoon just behind the race leaders. Cactus doesn’t appear to have been given an official time as he started the race late. According to the National Post, the dog will be picked up by Karen Hadfield on Saturday morning at the finish line. He becomes the first dog to run the race and also gained his own hashtage #CactustheMdsDog.

I’m at the finish line of the @marathonDsables AND THE DOG FINISHED!! GO CACTUS!! ?#CactusTheMdsDog @runnersworlduk #mdsmedia2019 #mds3019 pic.twitter.com/ros7NEOdum

— Susie Chan (@Susie__Chan) April 12, 2019

Cactus the finisher ???
He made it! He’s the first dog to run the MDS ??
He did great on today’s 42 km stage ?
Who’s a good boy? ?#MDS2019 #MARATHONDESSABLES #CactusTheMdsDog pic.twitter.com/5MmFtyESRN

— MARATHON DES SABLES (@marathonDsables) April 12, 2019

In the human race, brothers Rachid and Mohamed El Morabity of Morocco went one-two, followed by Abdelaziz Baghazza. The first woman across the line was Ragna Debats of the Netherlands, second place went to Aziza Raji of Morocco and third place to Gemme Game of Great Britain.

Canadian 16-year-old Jack Davison is still on the course. He’s completed stage 5.