I hope people realise how silly the idea of a race through the desert is given the other event that's currently going on there.
The Desert is falling into anarchy, the empire falling apart, people dieing of thirst, tribes and frahar rampaging unchecked.... so let's have a race!
An epic danger race where it's an extra challenge to make sure your mount has enough water to go on and doesn't die of heatstroke!
Where you have to dodge the rampaging tribes, while making long noses at them that your mektoub is getting more water than them!
Race through the epic scenery and see with your own eyes the battlegrounds! The fields of corpses! The dried up wastelands! Scenes that will go down in the history books!
This will surely buoy the spirit of the Fyros people and restore their pride in their overrun homeland and the government who seems to have abandoned the sinking ship to relax in the lakelands.
It's a proven method for keeping your people quiet in times of turmoil and distracted from how their government is not doing anything: Bread and games! Screw water, who needs that?
And you can feel totally good about it, because 10% of all proceeds of the race will go to buying water for the thirsty tribes!
(The other 90% will go towards buying passage for that water through Matis lands.)
(Note, I'm not criticising, I can point out how silly something is without thinking it's bad.
)