Some might say, “what happens in the desert, stays in the desert.” But this sentiment may not ring so true at the Sahara Race 2012.  This year, a huge amount of interest from the world’s media has culminated in 30 journalists joining the event, from magazine editors to filmmakers.  We decided to check in with some of them to find out: Why the Sahara Race?

Steven N. Bray is a series producer for the Canadian TV show Boundless, which airs on the Travel & Escape Channel.  The show follows competitors Simon Donato and Paul Trebilcock as they traverse the world taking on extraordinary races.  As Bray puts it, “The Sahara Race is a must for anyone looking to take part in one of the top endurance events on Earth.  It is the ultimate physical and mental endurance race—through vast expanses of beautiful desert scape, rife with culture and history. There is no way to make a show of this scale without including at least one of the RacingThePlanet races to set the bar as high as possible.”

While Boundless comes in to capture one of the 4 Deserts events, the Australians behind the JDRF Born to Run documentary have been following a team of five 4 Deserts Grand Slammers for several months now.  Greg Donovan, team leader of JDRF Born to Run, explains, “The documentary will help to highlight our foundation and the challenges of the 4 Deserts series, as well as inspire people with Type 1 diabetes, that we are literally going to the ends of the Earth to raise money for research into a cure.”

Chinese media are equally here in full force.  Outdoor Gears magazine will be pulling together a 30-page spread about the Sahara Race 2012, together with a video documenting the behind-the-scenes action on their website.  As Ying Chen explains, they’re heading to Egypt for, “the splendid and remote landscape, amazing culture and all of the efforts the competitors will take to finish the race and their achievements.”

The biggest crew of them all, however, is the 17-person media team from NHK, Japan's National Broadcasting Organization.  As their spokesman, Masashi Furuyashiki neatly summarizes, the motivation for being here is simple: “We heard that this is the most extreme desert race on the Earth and thought, “Why would people challenge themselves to such an unimaginable race?  What would they gain after finishing this long distance?”  We would like to see the stories of the runners and find these answers.”