1 Sunday ` brought to you by the Mazda CX3. Tonight on Sunday ` from top cop to rock bottom ` He was yelling and screaming. Every time police spoke to him, he'd come out shooting. The class clown who became our top police negotiator. Straight away you go, 'Ohhh, crap. 'What have I done?' He loved the job, but still it haunts him. TEARFULLY: Phew. Sorry. And he's face to face with a man police shot. This country has got an epidemic, and Lance is part of the healing. Yes. Yes, I think most people know that I do have influence. The power of two women cleaning up war's brutal aftermath. It was a woman who'd been macheted in her neck by her brother-in-law because his lunch wasn't ready on time. Two women are fighting for their lives after being severely burnt in a bushfire while running an ultramarathon in Western Australia. First, she ran into a bushfire. I just thought, 'This is what it's like to die in a fire.' Then she dreamed of competing in a footrace across the Sahara desert. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016 Kia ora. I'm Miriamo Kamo. Tonight's story I find extraordinary ` a rare and powerful insight into the life of a top police officer. Lance Burdett was the negotiator called when lives hung in the balance. But while he fought to protect, he was losing a battle against himself. Tonight, that struggle is laid bare. And he reveals new details about the deadly Napier siege which left his colleague dead. Here's Jehan Casinader, and a warning ` some material may be confronting. As you're walking towards any situation, your brain is racing flat out. 'What's gonna happen in this one?' I call it the long, lonely walk. The long, lonely walk. There's no one else around you. Time doesn't matter. You don't hear the traffic. You don't hear anything except your voice. Lance Burdett talks to those who're inches away from death. I'm thinking, 'What am I gonna say to this person?' One slip of the tongue could cause somebody to fall or jump. Your stomach is in your mouth, so you take the big deep breath. It is really an intense moment. But while helping others battle their demons, Lance was fighting his own. Eventually you have to put a shield in front of it otherwise it's gonna take you down. RAPID MUSIC Before he joined the force, Lance was a cheeky kid from out west. What were you like in your younger days? Be honest. (CHUCKLES) Bit of a ratbag, actually. I discovered fairly early on that I couldn't learn very well, so I became the class clown. I left school with no qualifications. I had a very good job as a builder. I was earning relatively good money. Money to pay for this. I've done lots of adventure sports. I do like the adrenaline rush. There's one rush he'd craved his whole life. I've always wanted to be a police officer. I think every kid does. At the age of 35 decided, 'Well, now or never.' I didn't join the police to make a difference. I wanted to have a bit of excitement for myself. But he was in for a shock. The excitement turned to fear. ...yelling and screaming at each other... ...reports hearing a female shouting... SIREN WAILS You only see bad things, particularly at night-time. Help me. He just hit me. He just hit me! Please` Just wait, just wait, just wait. Domestic incidents were the worst for me. BANGING ON DOOR We were probably going to two or three a night. Her brother-in-law just came here with an axe. What does that do to your mind? Well, you do become quite desensitised. In fact, I think I became a little hard. You actually go out hunting. You're going out to see how many people you can lock up to save the rest of the country. But behind the bravado, Lance was a very different man,... I've always been ` not so much weak ` sensitive. Good girl. ...especially after starting a family. Being a dad, you've got that paternal instinct. You relate things back to your own life. He was unprepared for the toughest part of police work ` dealing with the dead. I used to look at their faces, and you see a person, and you can't imagine that that person is gone. One night an ordinary callout would really hit home. As I walked up the driveway, I could hear this wailing and screaming from the` from the bedroom. And, uh` TEARFULLY: Phew. Sorry. And I opened the door, and the mother was on the bed. She just looked up at me, and she had nothing in her eyes. Her baby had died from cot death. I looked at her and I says, 'I don't know what to say.' Here's a mother holding a baby to her breast who's dead. (EXHALES LOUDLY) That was the start of my demise, I guess. The perception of police is incorrect. Tough, strong ` no. They are vulnerable. But instead of leaving the force, Lance pushed away the pain and rose through the ranks. The armour goes up. You start to feel self-important. You start to feel that you're invincible. Now a senior detective,... TV: I think the secret lies in the scene... ...he had to deal with a new kind of pressure. It's absolutely petrifying being in front of the cameras. TV: We are in the process of reconstructing that vehicle. Cops are seen as robots, and there's a reason for that. One, we're nervous. Two, we're not sure what to say, and three, if I stick to the script, I'm OK, I'm safe. He led the charge on big cases, but told his boss he was overworked. They just basically said, 'Sometimes you just need to dig it in. You know, we're all busy. 'You will get through this. Suck it up.' I was always trying to beat the other detective sergeants, always trying to have the greatest results. So I'd have, you know, 10-, 11-, 12-hour days and then go to the gym for an hour, sometimes two hours. You do sort of isolate yourself from your family. Alcohol has that wonderful feeling of` it just numbs you immediately. As much Lance as tried to escape the darkness of frontline policing, he couldn't. It's very difficult to-to wash this stuff off. This stuff sticks to you. It stays in your brain. I couldn't get to sleep at night, so I'd be taking pills all the time. It just made it so easy to get to sleep. Lance ignored the warning signs and took on an even bigger role. I'd just become a negotiator. On this bridge he approached a teenage boy. He was right on the edge of his fingertips, and he was leaning out with his leg. I've said to him, 'You know, look, I've` I've been in dark places too, and you can get through this. 'It's really important that you stick with me.' The boy eventually climbed off the bridge. Your heart is doing backflips. It really is. You're just` You're over the moon. It's the kind of work Lance had dreamed of, but it meant he had little time for his own family. Mum said, 'Have you got time for a cup of tea?' You know, 'time for a chat', I think she said. And I said, 'No, Mum. I'm busy.' So she smiled and said OK. And she died the next day from a brain haemorrhage. My brain just said, 'Really? You're busy? Well, have some of this.' About two weeks after her funeral I was driving home and it just hit me. The floodgates opened, and I just cried and cried and cried. I had a knot in my stomach, and I couldn't get rid of it. I would often yell, 'Just breathe.' Once again he tried to push through. I recall standing at the photocopier on the fourth floor of the police station. I just thought, 'This pain is just` I can't take it any more.' And I looked out the window, and it was just a` the fleeting thought. 'It's not high enough.' And I thought, 'What was that?' How did that feel? Uh, it scared the hell out of me. And then I thought, 'Gee, there's something's not right here.' And it was that very afternoon that I went and got some help. Lance was diagnosed with accumulated stress disorder. In other words ` burnout. It's like coming out of a-a wave when you're getting bowled over in the surf, and it takes you down and sucks you under, and you think, 'That's all right, I'll come back up. 'I'll pop back up any time. Just relax.' And it hits you in the face again and says, 'No, it's not time to have` have a breath.' Everything just floods in at one moment ` these haunting visions of the face of every dead person I've seen, things from my childhood when I'd made mistakes. And you think, 'Gee, this wave's gonna end soon cos if it doesn't, I'm gonna die.' Lance had counselling and a six-month break from policing. It's a process that everyone, I think, has to go through in their own time. He says burnout is common in the force. It always seems to be around the seven-year mark. We need to tell cops that this is gonna happen and these are the warning signs. But he wouldn't give up on the career he loved. I hear people that say, 'You can't get over these things. I can never get over it.' You can. Back on the beat, the biggest test of his career was yet to come. DRAMATIC MUSIC Next ` the Napier siege. I was sure he was coming out, absolutely sure he was coming out. Lance reveals what went wrong,... A shot was heard. 'Crap. What I have done?' ...and he meets Rob Mokaraka ` a man who wanted police to shoot him. I used to watch police shoot Maori on the news. I thought, 'I'm a Maori; this should be easy.' BROODING MUSIC I received a phone call about midday saying that there was an event unfolding in Napier, and 'you need to get down here.' REPORTER: Gunshots rang out as heavily armed police landed. It was quite surreal. The airport was closed, there was a Hercules parked beside the runway. The realisation hits you of how big this operation is. An operation to stop a madman. Jan Molenaar had shot his neighbour and three police officers after a drug search went wrong. TV REPORTER: Shaken locals fled the area as they heard the fatal shots. Lance would oversee the negotiating team. I was thinking, 'Well, it's just gonna be another one of those incidents, you know, 'where somebody's on P or`' you know, 'and it'll all be over by around 11 o'clock, I guess.' A few streets away... Initially when you look at it, it seems like a rather small house. ...Molenaar was holed up in the house he'd turned into a fortress. What sort of mood was he in? He was extremely angry. Uh, he was yelling and screaming. Every time police spoke to him, he'd come out shooting. GUNSHOTS My suggestion was that perhaps we should allow him to have at least two or three hours sleep so he can calm down. Lance says the commander disagreed, telling the team to phone Molenaar on the hour, every hour. How did you feel about that call? I was disappointed, to be honest. I felt like I'd been overruled. My personal opinion is we let people sleep through the night, cos the demons come in the dark, and if you try and keep people awake, they'll make irrational decisions. Molenaar kept firing. He was just rambling, ranting, and then something happened and his mood dropped. About 8 in the morning, our phone went, which is really unusual. So he's calling us. He got quite sad; you could hear sadness in his voice. Unbeknown to Lance, Molenaar was receiving text messages from an ex-partner. Some of the messages on there were telling him, basically, to kill himself. Lance says detectives were reading those texts but never passed them on to the negotiating team. Could that have changed things? It certainly would have changed our tactics, absolutely. I was very disappointed. There should have been a war room. We should all have sat round the table and said, 'Here's our part.' 'Here's our part.' And that wasn't happening. As the siege entered a second day, Lance knew he had a secret ally ` Molenaar's partner Delwyn Keefe. The last option was to put Delwyn on the phone to say, 'I'm here. I'm waiting for you. Come on out.' Whose idea was that? It was my idea, and one that haunted me afterwards. He's either going to come out or he's going to shoot himself, and the response was, 'Either way it's an end, so let's do it.' We had a script for her to stick to. He's saying things like, 'I've really stuffed up, babe. 'I've really done some bad things. There's no coming back from this.' She kept saying, 'Yes, there is. Yes, you can get through this. Yes, there is.' And a shot was heard, and it came back through the police radio. 'Shot fired, shot fired.' Everyone knew what had happened. Everyone knew, and there was just silence. Straight away you go, 'Ohhh, crap. 'What have I done?' Lance had given Molenaar the chance to say goodbye to Delwyn. He could then end his life. Did you feel like you'd failed? Yeah. Absolutely. As a negotiator you go to save lives, everyone's life, even the life of the person that had started this whole thing, that had killed a colleague. Senior constable Len Snee lay dead on Molenaar's driveway. They managed to stop and pick up Len's body. The door opened and there was Len, you know, lying on the floor. I looked across and there was two military guys standing to attention. (BREATHES SHAKILY) It stuck with me forever. The aftermath of the siege could have set Lance back. Instead, it motivated him to improve police processes around negotiation. I'm very proud of my time in the police, to be honest, and I'm very proud of what they've done for me, so for 22 years they looked after my family and I. Two years ago Lance left the force and took with him some precious memories. This is from one of the victims' families that I dealt with. That's me, and you can see the police hat-type emblems on there. Lance had brought many cases to a close, but there was one man whose story had always haunted him ` Have I told you how handsome Rob is? actor Rob Mokaraka. Seven years ago Rob threatened police, and eventually they shot him in the chest. He forced a police officer to shoot him. I wanted to know what would cause someone to do it. Rob explains his turmoil using theatre. I was the happy-go-lucky, funny guy who didn't show how sad he was inside. I was deep in a storm. All the foundations of shame, guilt and failure had come swirling up. I didn't know what depression was. I didn't know what suicidal tendencies were, I was just living it. I just thought I deserved a violent end. That's cause of shame, guilt, failure. I just thought I deserved a violent end. (BREATHES HEAVILY) Growing up as a Maori kid, I used to watch police shoot Maori on the news and then I thought, 'I'm a Maori; this should be easy.' To his surprise, Lance discovered that Rob's mental struggle reminded him of his own. (EXHALES) It's me. The same. You go up and down. It's waves though, innit? Failure, hero, failure, hero, failure, hero. I go through that too. We're two men who've managed to get through the storm and have got back up and are trying to heal. There's plenty of people out there to help you, but the only one that's going to really help you is you. Now Lance coaches others in resilience. Like Rob, he wants us to be more open about our mental health. He's one brave man. I'm so proud, cos I know how scary that is. Take care. This country has got an epidemic, and Lance is part of the healing. < Kick! How do you look at your life now? I'm very raw to-to life. You're better than Grandpa. I laugh more, and I cry more. I'm getting better as a dad. Well done! Yes! I'm getting better as a husband. There's no cynicism in me at all now. He joined the police for a bit of adventure, but he ended up saving lives, including his own. The long, lonely walks are no longer so lonely. There is hope. There is hope. So, police offer support and counselling to their staff and monitor their workloads. They acknowledge Lance's views on the Napier siege, but say best practice was followed and decisions were based on all available facts. Now, Lance Burdett has written a a book about his journey. 'Behind The Tape' is out tomorrow. And if this story's raised any issues for you, call Lifeline on 0800 543 354. Well, later in the show ` she was told she'd never run again after being badly burnt in a bushfire. Now she's looking to fulfil her dream of competing in the toughest footrace on Earth. And up next ` are you stuck in a work rut and dreaming of a life less ordinary? Well, Wellingtonian Liz Hicks did something about it and now is building on a proud Kiwi tradition. The reason they like Kiwis is that Kiwis come in and they say, 'What would you like us to do? 'How can we help you?' I s'pose the ones that have affected me the most are the young girls. You just look at them and you think, 'That could be my daughter.' a Welcome back. Want a life less ordinary? Want better work stories? Well, Wellingtonian Liz Hicks threw in her management career to become a volunteer abroad. She's been working in Bougainville, which still carries the scars of a brutal war. After meeting the formidable Sister Lorraine, the pair forged a powerful friendship that's helping women, children and families. Here's Barbara Dreaver with Liz and Lorraine. ALL SING HYMN One is a free-spirited Kiwi,... Not a Catholic. No. I arrived with my Buddha in my hand. ...the other a formidable Catholic nun. Yes. I think most people know that I do have influence. Two different lives. Two different worlds. But over the past few years, they've forged an unlikely friendship. I think hers is a story that needs to be told. It's a very important part of Bougainville's history. That history is a brutal one ` 10 years of civil war. A bloody conflict raged between the Bougainville Revolutionary Army and government troops from mainland Papua New Guinea; valuable resources and independence at its heart. I saw people killed in front of me during that crisis. I saw too many people harmed. You know, in the situation of civil war, my first experience was losing my people. More than 15,000 died. It was the people who suffered ` families, women, children. We never slept in our bed at night because we were always thinking, 'Who will come along and burn us in our houses?' And things like that. For a decade, the people tried to hide from unrelenting violence. Now, nearly 20 years later, the community still carries the scars of war. We have children who grew up... young people who grew up in the crisis. Today, they are the ones causing the violence. There's no escaping the past. Sister Lorraine stands at the coalface, a fierce protector for women and children, victims of ex-militant husbands and fathers. This is their refuge ` a place where they come to find peace. It's a place within Bougainville where traditionally the spirits of the dead come from the east side of the island and they cross through this area to go to the west coast and fly away. Um, so it has always been a place of transition and healing, really. Wellingtonian Liz Hicks spent 25 years in management. 'This is a good job and the money's good, but it's a bit boring.' So she ditched city life for foreign fields ` East Timor and now Bougainville. The Volunteer Service Abroad programme has offered her a life off the beaten track. It's that sense of adventure and getting to know a different culture, but, also, probably more importantly, it's an opportunity to kind of share back your skills that you have. Just getting to remote Bougainville is one thing; getting around another. The capital, Buka, is packed with colour, people, heat. But just 20 minutes' drive away is Chabai. This is where the Catholic mission and Sister Lorraine's Nazareth Centre is based, and it's been Liz's home for three years. The fruits are blooming. The rain will spoil them. Especially mango. It's in this oasis that the pair have built a partnership. Sister Lorraine leads the team of Catholic nuns protecting abused families. They lose hope. They think, 'That's it. I have no hope. 'All my life ends here.' But when they come here and we start doing counselling therapy with them, then the hope comes. Liz works behind the scenes to keep the centre ticking over, developing policies... To ensure the women are kept safer. ...and passing on her knowledge to the nuns so that they can eventually go it alone. What we have to record here is what's going to match the chequebook and the bank statement. Their driving force are the victims, with two-thirds of women in this country suffering domestic violence. There was a woman who had been macheted in her neck by her brother-in-law because his dinner... lunch wasn't ready on time. And there are others who just need to hide, accused of sorcery and running from death threats. I suppose the ones that have affected me the most are the young girls. Because for me, you just look at them and you think, 'That could be my daughter.' Saturday morning and another woman arrives seeking refuge, supported by safe-house counsellor Cecile. 27-year-old Jean has been beaten by her husband. Jean found the courage to flee her violent relationship. Her parents now want her home with them, but before that, she needs time to heal, and that's where the Nazareth Centre comes in. Will this be a long process? Keeping women safe is a priority, but there are no fences here. They're not needed. Few are a match for Sister Lorraine. Quick. Hurry up. She has been known to single-handedly eject threatening men from the property. She's tough, uncompromising and stubborn. Turn it around. You have it inside out. But the feisty Sister Lorraine is why the Nazareth Centre has survived. How much courage do you think she needed to do what she does? I think she's needed a lot of courage because she has introduced programmes that traditionally go against the Catholic Church's teachings for things like birth control programmes. She has such passion and direction and drive. Sister Lorraine echoes those sentiments. I think she's done great work ` Liz. She's done great work here. Other Kiwis have played an understated but leading role here; NZ helping broker peace in the late '90s. We are not strangers to each other. A process Sister Lorraine was part of. Since then, Volunteer Service Abroad has been helping with the island's recovery. Local people tell me the reason they like Kiwis is that Kiwis come in and they say, 'What would you like us to do? How can we help you?' They don't come in and say, 'Oh, you need to do it this way.' Resources and money are in short supply at the Nazareth Centre so skilled volunteers are valuable. When you sew that on, you see, you only have that little bit on the inside and you won't see it. Liz's colleagues, Anne and Peter from Whangarei, are training up promising youngsters from neighbouring villages. Yeah. We're going to put one on here and one on here. And that will stop this nut from being able to turn. It's part of the Nazareth Centre vision ` helping abused women and children, and building communities; breaking the cycle of violence. You're having young people leaving school at the age of 14 or 15, and they come back to the village to do what? Nothing. So that, you know, we can help them gain skills so that they can make meaning of their lives. Sister Lorraine's worked hard to build relationships in the community. Morning. This is my favourite storeman. And her other favourite is Liz. They share an easy companionship and vision to move Bougainville forward, away from its violent past. That's why I do what I do because I think, you know, there is a life beyond all this violence. As this day comes to an end, so too does Liz's time here. But she's not yet ready to say goodbye to Sister Lorraine. I take that friendship with me, but, um, I'd also like to go back to NZ to find a little bit of money and write Sister Lorraine's biography. Quite a hefty book. (LAUGHS) Could be. Yes. And some beautiful images shot there by cameraman Cam Williams. Well, next, Kate Sanderson loved competing in ultramarathons. Then she ran into a bush fire and suffered horrific burns to 60% of her body. Kate was told she'd never run again. So, how do you come back from that? What makes Kate's attempt to compete in this ultramarathon so extraordinary is not only that she has one foot, but her skin grafts don't contain sweat glands. And sweating is the main way the body cools down in hot weather. 1 Hello again. How's this for a challenge? The Marathon Des Sables is the equivalent of five and a half marathons over seven days, and it's held in the Sahara Desert. Competitors must carry their food and bedding and a daily ration of water. With 50-degree temperatures, it's tough enough, but what about for Kate Sanderson? Now, Kate sustained burns to 60% of her body. She was caught in a bushfire while running another ultramarathon. She lost sweat glands, half her foot and some fingers. Alex Cullen with the woman who was told she'd never run again. WOMAN SIGHS, PANTS # Well, I would walk 500 miles # and I would walk 500 more # to be the man who walked a thousand miles # to fall down at your door. # Da-da-da-da. # Da-da-da-da. # Da-da-dun da-da-dun da-da-dun da-da-da-da-da. # Da-da-da-da. # Da-da-da-da. # Da-da-dun da-da-dun da-da-dun da-da-da-da-da. # There's no shade. There's no wind. Apparently if there's wind, that means there's a sandstorm. WIND HOWLS And it can get 40, 50 degrees? I hope it's not that hot. It's a race that tests you mentally, a race that tests you spiritually, it tests you physically. It doesn't let you make a mistake. I didn't expect it to be like this. Yeah. That's a big dune. You're the only one doing it with 60% burns to your body as well as a prosthetic foot, though. I think everyone out there ` 1300 competitors ` will be doing it tough. Yeah, it's not just me. That's enough. GENTLE MUSIC Kate Sanderson is 41, from Melbourne. She's training for the world's toughest footrace. And if she does this, if she finishes, what sort of achievement will it be? > Oh, this will be a colossal achievement. The sort of mental tenacity and strength that's required to front up for one of these events in any situation is extreme. And for her, after what she's been through ` and, you know, she's got a pretty good idea of what's involved here ` I think it'll just be one of the most outstanding achievements you could think of. This race is gruelling for anyone. But for Kate, it's going to be even tougher. Two women are fighting for their lives after being severely burnt in a bushfire while running an ultramarathon in Western Australia. It was 2011. Kate and the other runners didn't know there was a bushfire ahead. Yeah, I just got in the crevice, but it lit my shoulder, and then I just thought, 'This is what it's like to die in a fire.' (SNIFFS) And when the fire came through it was so intense that I just` I just jumped up without thinking and just covered my face, so hence my fingers and tendons are gone in my fingers, but I saved my face. And then I just fell and fell and fell down the mountain and got up and thought, 'Shit, I'm still alive.' Like, I just didn't expect to live, cos the heat was just so intense. Kate and Turia Pitt were the most badly burnt. It took four excruciating hours for help to arrive. Kate spent three weeks in intensive care and six months in hospital. And I never thought I'd get through it. Yeah, I just thought, 'How the hell am I going to get through this?' Being told I'd never be able to run again... (SNIFFS) you know, is hard. Yeah, that's how it is. But, you know, it's my new normal. I've learnt to` You know, I can do most things, just a bit different. It's still frustrating, but, you know, I can do everything. HAUNTING MUSIC For the past 31 years, the Marathon des Sables has been held in Morocco, which extends into the Sahara, the hottest desert on earth. You get an opportunity to go to a part of the world that so few people can ever go to that is just mind-blowingly beautiful. HAUNTING MUSIC CONTINUES Peter Kingston has run this race twice before. He knows what's in store for Kate. What she's doing here is absolutely outstanding. I just wish her every success and really want her to get through. She's an absolute inspiration. What about the group of people you're going with? What are they like? > Uh, great bunch. Half of them, I didn't know a week ago. It's just going to be all full of laughs, really. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Until you get halfway through those sand dunes. > Yeah. Well, then I might grab on to one of them. Is a little bit of you scared? No. Well, there's no flies in a desert, I hope. So there's that. Um, no, I'm a little bit cautious and maybe a bit more risk-averse than previous to my accident. But the goal is to finish. My goal has always been to finish. And so if I have to walk it, so be it. AC/DC'S 'HIGHWAY TO HELL' 24 Australians are in it, including Luke and Warwick from the Central Coast of New South Wales. ALL CHEER Kate will be walking with Mari-Mar and Bronwyn. # My friends are gonna be there too, yeah. # # I'm on the highway to hell. # On the highway to hell. # Highway to hell. # Peter will be ahead of Kate. He's trying to make the top 100. There are 1100 competitors from almost 50 countries. What's the drawcard for this particular race? I don't know. It's the challenge. If people say, 'That was so tough, I can't do it,' that's kind of like a challenge for me. I'm like, 'Right. I'm going to see if I can do it.' (PANTS) The rules are simple. You're given a daily ration of water and a tent to sleep in. That's it. You must carry all your food and bedding on your back. Each day you complete a marathon in a set time or you're disqualified. What are you thinking so far? It's good. It's, like, a dream pace. It's just a casual walk with a mate. WIND HOWLS They just had to contend with 12km of sand dune, and not only are they dealing with those, it's also the heat, the dust, the wind, and they've got another 20km to go. What makes Kate's attempt to compete in this ultramarathon so extraordinary is not only that she has one foot, but her skin grafts don't contain sweat glands, and sweating is the main way the body cools down in hot weather. I can't regulate my temperature. I get hot really quickly. And then I can't cool down. So, um, it's a bit frustrating that I can train and train and train and be as fit as anything and get over there and it's out of my hands whether I have to pull out or not. I don't know how it would be without the wind, but the wind just keeps it bearable. I feel fine and stuffed at the same time, and I know that doesn't make sense. (CHUCKLES) I doubt anything out there makes sense. Oh. I'm actually looking forward` I actually really like the sandstorm because of the wind. You've got the camp in the distance. It's been a... terrible day. EVOCATIVE MUSIC After nearly 10 hours of walking, Bronwyn and Kate finish the first day. They narrowly avoid disqualification. Before the first checkpoint, we got to this hill` Hill? I think it was a mountain. I think it was Everest. Yeah. And the cut-out. And I just sat at the top and I just was... (GROANS) I just vomited and vomited and vomited. Did the thought of stopping enter your mind? Yep. Lots and lots. Gidday, Kate. (CHUCKLES) Come in, Peter. How are you feeling, though? That was a hard day. They're all hard days. Just feet. And I popped a blister. And now I'm worried about tomorrow, because I was only half an hour within cut-off this time. ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC SCATTERED APPLAUSE (PUFFS) Tough day at the office. Well, struggling. Mentally, it's a tough day for me today. Why? > Dunno. Can't tell you. You know, sometimes you just hit those black spots and you just... You know, everything's a drudge, everything's` You know, every little` every little thing goes against you. It's 40-plus degrees out here. There's just no wind. It is absolutely brutal. Clearly this is a dangerous undertaking. And if she were to become... too hot, essentially, um, you know, that can be something that can kill you. So she could die out there? Uh, I would... Could she die out there? Well, I, uh` That would be my opinion, and I think you'd probably find other people who'd agree with it. MAN: The heat is worst compared to other years. There's more people who stop the race. We had a Spanish runner who get, like, a severe cardiac arrhythmia, that we got to anaesthesia him and shock him. You resuscitated him? Yeah. He's OK now. And times are much, much slower than they have been in the past, cos everyone's just getting belted, and dehydrated. There's a lot of dehydration around the camp. At night, the medical team is overwhelmed. The symptoms of extreme dehydration are frightening. After two days, 60 runners have abandoned the race < How are your legs? (BREATHLESSLY) Crap. Crap. (EXHALES) OK, so, next ` Kate is caught in a jam behind other runners and tries to jump the queue. DRAMATIC MUSIC Kate can't afford to wait in the heat and goes up through the sand. (PANTS) Shit. 1 CHEERING Competitors have completed over 100km. There's 140 to go. So far, they've seen their fair share of sand dunes, but nothing like this. That's brutal. That's brutal. Look at that. There's a backlog ahead. Kate can't afford to wait in the heat and goes up through the sand. Remember, because of Kate's burns, she can't sweat properly and has trouble cooling down. (PANTS) Shit. (SIGHS) OK. (BREATHES SHAKILY) WOMAN: I just can't believe what she does. And the fact that she has no... you know, no foot, basically. Going down for her is probably the hardest. Going up, she just flies, doesn't she? She flies, like, going up. (SIGHS) Over the mountain... and into a furnace. Kate's temperature is rising, and she's in serious danger of overheating. Come on, wind. It's fucking scorching hot! 'Oh, enjoy the journey.' Fuck the journey! WOMAN: No journey! I had a few moments where I was crawling under cars. I think cos I haven't... I had diarrhoea today as well. Trying to get into any shade I could. Yeah, tough. We haven't finished yet. We're still going. Kate will eventually walk for 28 hours straight. # The night so black # that the darkness hums. # It's 3.30 in the morning. This is weird, isn't it? Yep. Anyway, it should be over in another... I don't even know how long it's gonna take. I can't calculate. < However long it takes. Yep. # I'm not done yet. # How many years # I know I'll bear. # I found something # in the woods somewhere. # Last day. Been a pretty big week. Just a cheeky 42 to finish today, which is a nice feeling. You do a high, hard day and you'd always have another day and another day and another day. And for once, I have no more days. After a week out here in the Sahara Desert... CHEERING AND APPLAUSE ...Kate and her friends finally finish. APPLAUSE, CHEERING All my teammates, all the Aussie guys ` amazing, just` I couldn't get through without any of them. I didn't think I'd` Even day one, I was 15 minutes within the first cut-off and I was like, 'Oh, how the hell am I gonna get through this?' And I didn't think I'd do it. < Well done. Thank you. < You're a superstar. Thank you. < Do you feel like a superstar? I feel like a shower! < (LAUGHS) To see there's, like, maybe 500 people out there clapping and cheering me on ` all the back markers ` was just amazing. I've never had that before. And it was just beautiful. I love her. Altogether, 135 competitors abandoned the race. Kate Sanderson wasn't one of them. Well, that's our show for tonight. Do join us on Facebook and Twitter... And thanks for joining us this evening.