Marathon des Sables on TV

This year's

MdS

was filmed by ITV. They showed their programme this week. It was great to see the desert again as the memories rushed back. But I did not like the programme much. They did not show the vast majority of runners who were out there to actually run the race rather than
a) stroll it for a laugh
b) suffer through lack of preparation
c) suffer because it was very hard for them and they verge on being out of their depth
I applaud the 'c' group, have no opinion on group 'a' and no sympathy for 'b'.
All of Tent 91, and hundreds of other guys, ran the race as fast as they possibly could. You don't see that in this programme. I personally think that, with the popularity of the race increasing dramatically, they should chop the cut-off times dramatically. It should be hard to finish each day [a big caveat though to not make the race only for elite runners: I want it to be only for people who are pretty fit and willing to try hard], and it should not be an option to be able to lie down and sleep for a few hours mid-stage. Whilst I'm at it, surely the rest day mid-race should be axed too?
Anyway - here's the show. My claim to fame is that I'm in it for a split-second asking a vomiting girl if she is OK before just cracking on full speed ahead! (Sorry!!) The reason I am only on for a split-second is because I saw the camera running over to film the vomiting girl and I shouted out, "here come the vultures for their shot of the day!" They cut that bit out. Oh yes, I'm on the far right of the screen in this screenshot too: a bit embarrassing to be behind the joker in the Union Jack outfit!