Of men who are Gods

I stood at the finish line with an odd mix of feelings. But when I saw, one after another, a succession of worn-out, threadbare men and women pass me by, it became clearer to me. I was not at the finish line of the 2017 Dakar. I was standing at one of many temples we build to the human spirit. An infinitely resilient thing that powers our civilisation, our lives and drives us to do the things we do.

The finish line for the 2017 Dakar was a reasonably simple affair. The enormous podium is...