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I lean over his shoulder to watch the screen. It’s incredible to see the runners from this angle, putting into perspective how tiny they are compared to the immensity of the dunes. A true ocean of sand.
Dale follows the leader – Farouk – for some time, then pans back towards the entrance of the dunes, making sure to capture Rupert and then Mariam in the frame. It’s difficult now that the runners are more spread out, but it looks truly incredible on video. I can already see how this will come together for social media.
The next two into the dunes are Nabil, followed by – I have to squint to make out who it is. But there’s her race number, 13; it’s Adrienne. She’s still running well.
Dale tracks her with the drone. I wonder if he’s got a memo to keep tabs on the magic ‘runner 13’. An uncomfortable feeling rises inside me. A fiery anger I thought I’d extinguished a long time ago. But then Dale pans back to Nabil. By contrast to Adrienne, hedoeslook like he’s suffering. He’s staggering left and right, then sliding down the face of one of the dunes, as if he’s lost control of his legs.
‘Ali?’ He comes over to view the screen. He watches for a moment. ‘Should we go to him?’ I ask.
‘I thought that was not allowed.’
Of the rules that Boones gave us, interacting with the runners is high on the list of forbidden items. We’re not allowed to give water, allow them to use the car as shade or offer any food or assistance of any kind. If we do, it’s an immediate disqualification for the runner.
‘It’s not allowed. But –’ I don’t need to say more. On the screen, we watch as Nabil stumbles, then falls almost flat on his face, tumbling down the sand. He doesn’t seem to make any attempt to stop himself.
We jump in the car and Ali guns it to where the drone is hovering. When we get to Nabil, he doesn’t respond to us. I reach up to his shoulder and activate his emergency beacon. I want to drive him to medical care, but the doctors will be able to reach us quicker this way. Plus, if we move him then we might cause further injury. The way he’s fallen, he might have hurt himself badly.
Ali is beside himself, panicked, flustered, trying to rouse Nabil.
But I take a step back, my entire body falling still. I clench my back teeth, closing my eyes. It might not be worth driving him anywhere. Because I’m fairly certain Nabil has dropped dead.
The Ultra Bros Podcast
Hot & Sandy Edition
Mac:
Hello, bros and bro-ettes, it’s Mac here. Yup, just me. I know there have been a lot of rumours and speculation flying around about my co-host and friend Jason, so I want to address that right away.
I received a message before Boones took everyone’s phones away: Jason has been injured and taken to hospital. He suffered some kind of freak accident because of a massive sandstorm that hit the bivouac last night. I’m still waiting on an update on his status, so I’ll keep you posted. As for the race itself, it’s hard getting information out of the desert and things appear to be changing all the time.
We know, of course, that the first stage of the race is now underway – the tracking beacons are on and the Hot & Sandy official account is providing some sparse updates. The runners are out there. And we are the Ultra Bros. You know we plan for every contingency. So even though Jason is out of commission, we have a secret squirrel on the ground, reporting LIVE to us. As part of our agreement, we’ve had todisguise the sound of their voice, but trust me on this – it’s a real source.
So welcome, Anon, to the podcast.