The dunes conjurer

35 years old David Bottacin (549-Lux) is but one anonymous runner amongst the thousand competitors of this 25th Sultan Marathon des Sables. But the man who’s professionally known as David Goldrake enjoys worldwide fame. His job? He is a conjurer. And a passionate one. He reckons his job is about encouraging people to dream and giving them emotions. And for him, that’s also exactly what the Sultan Marathon des Sables does, naturally. How did he get from the stage to the desert? Simple: Josée, a friend of his, was always talking about the MDS. Having heard so much about it, David just had to try: he trained hard for six months for this new challenge. When asked for a final thought on the MDS, he answers straight away, before vanishing: surreal.