Nine Days in the Desert I The Race | 1

Against The Odds

Wondery

Cassie De Pecol, History, Society & Culture, Dolby, Mike Corey, Dolby Atmos, Atmos

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2024

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s April 14, 1994, and an Italian policeman and ultramarathoner named Mauro Prosperi is running the world’s most challenging footrace: the Marathon des Sables, across the Sahara Desert in Morocco. But when a sandstorm kicks up, Mauro finds himself hopelessly lost.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Against the Odds early and ad-free right now.
0:05.6	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:10.0	A listener note, Against the Odds uses dramatizations that are based on true events.
0:15.1	Some elements, including dialogue, may be invented, but everything is based on research.
0:27.1	Thank you. may be invented, but everything is based on research. Mauro Prosperi wraps a small towel around his sunburnt face to try to protect himself from the raging
0:34.5	Saharan sun. He's standing on the branch of a gnarled ancient tree, trying to get higher so he's more visible
0:42.3	to search parties.
0:44.3	It's April 17, 1994 in Morocco.
0:49.3	Three days ago, Maro was thrown off course by a sandstorm during the most challenging foot
0:54.5	race in the world, the Marathon de Sable, or Marathon of the Sands. He's been wandering alone
1:01.6	ever since, lost in the endless dunes of the Sahara Desert. A hot gust of wind throws up
1:08.3	a wall of sand, and Mauro pulls the towel tighter across his
1:12.2	nose and mouth.
1:13.7	When the gust passes, he squints into the distance through the shimmering heat.
1:18.7	There it is again.
1:19.8	The plane.
1:21.5	It's just a speck high up in the sky, but Maudo knows he has no time to waste.
1:27.4	He unfurls an Italian flag from the
1:29.4	waistband of his running shorts and ties it to a dried out branch of the tree. The wind picks up again,
1:35.9	and for a few moments, Mao loses sight of the plane in the clouds of blowing sand, but then he catches
1:42.7	another glimpse of it, and it's definitely getting closer.
1:46.5	Mauro has spotted a plane overhead a couple times now in the last few days, but he doesn't
	...

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