Hitting The Dunes

The 2019 Ultimate Desert Challenge saw amateurs and professionals display their mettle in the sands around Bikaner

- Tuhin Guha

Even in the middle of winter, the deserts around Bikaner are at their unforgiving best. At first, the chilly breeze catches you off-guard. But, as the day wears on, you realise that the sun is as sharp, and the air as dry as ever.

These, however, are the grievances of a hardened urbanite. I’m almost certain that to the participants in the 2019 Ultimate Desert Challenge, the finicky climate was way down on the list of things that they cared to think about. This is because in the three days of the event, they traversed near-vertical dunes, sandy undulating terrain and tricky elevation changes, and a quick dusty trail.