NO BIG DEAL
In blazing heat high on an Austrian mountain, Mark Peart fears he’s getting close to his physical limit. He clambers up to the 2,500m summit – his second of the day – and sits down. He knows he can’t stop here. This is the adidas Infinite Trails event, a team relay race over unrelenting mountainous terrain.
Peart’s 60k leg includes 3,000m of ascent. His teammates are two of his former competitors from Channel 4’s SAS Who Dares Wins. They’re waiting for him at the changeover. Letting them down is unthinkable. But right now he needs to rest. And to eat. He pulls a bag of nuts from his pack, but as he does so another runner appears on the summit. “This guy just looks horrendous,” says Peart. “Much worse off than me. I know I’ve got to help him.”
The last thing he wants to do is give away his precious food, but he ends up taking a mouthful of nuts for himself and pressing the rest of the bag into the exhausted athlete’s hand. This spontaneous act of altruism gives both men a boost and
