Hong Kong teenager recalls Sahara Desert ‘Squid Game’ at Marathon des Sables – ‘people would fall in front of you, then they’re gone’
- Nicole Chik finishes daunting six-day race, which had its second-highest dropout rate ever amid extreme heat
- The 16-year-old ran with her father and finished third in under-20 category, but admits ‘it was a bit traumatising’
The recent Marathon des Sables’ attrition rate was like that of hit Netflix show Squid Game, said a Hong Kong teenager who took on the daunting six-day race in the Sahara Desert.
The famed 250-kilometre ultra-running event usually has a completion rate close to 100 per cent. But extreme heat caused nearly 30 per cent of runners to drop out of this year’s race, which ended on May 1.
“It felt like ‘Squid Game’. People would literally fall in front of you,” Nicole Chik, 16, said. “And when you walk, you would see people just lying on the ground and medics were just around them. And then the next day they’re just gone.
“They’re gone, completely gone from the whole entire crew. And some people just get eliminated.”
In some ways, it was exactly what Chik had wished for.
