dakar 2014 - the show goes on

so on friday i joined dakar veterans and future dakar adventurers at the first aso world tour events to be held in the uk for over 10 years.

it was a great location being the heritage motor car centre in banbury and was sponsored by landrover -it would appear that the tv and pr coverage of the race2recovery's team was the main reason for the aso's interest, as well as the calibre of british riders; stan watt finishing 25th this year and lindon poskit's top ten stage finish, not forgetting to mention sam sunderland's 3rd place in dubai - would have won had it not been for a technical error.

some details for those who might be interested:

- registration opens may 15th and ends for bikes on 7th july, very strict/ no extension.

- everything is managed online now and the upgraded website will allow teams or individuals to enter and manage payments in any configuration that is required ie as individuals or teams.

- if details not completed online there will be no entry

- prices have not changed for competitors, bikes and support, although any 'camping or normal vehicles' will be charged more as they are shipped separately to the race and support vehicles.

- prices will be online.

- in terms of entrant resumes, the 3 criteria there are looking at are:

1/ race experience and intensity ie are you racing weekly or monthly, and what have you already done. they won't appreciate a long list of events you say you are planning to do before dakar 2014 if have no previous experience - there simply is not enough time

2/ race events that require proper navigation; fim and npo

3/ adventure seekers/ self reliant, can cope if stuck in the desert for a few days

- support vehicles, there are 3 tarifs which will be explained online.

- the vehicles must be 4x4.

- aso need to know size of team before september

- vehicles depart le harve 30th november and arrive in ba (i guess??) 31st december  

last year 67% of the bike competitors completed the dakar, the highest percentage ever. this was attributed to the level of riders in the dakar. but they plan to make dakar 2014 a little harder!

2 marathon stages:

one in bolivia. due to the high altitude, riders will be able to leave kit to be transported to the marathon bivouac at the start of the stage. cars and trucks will be doing a loop around salta.

specials will be longer, with shorter liaisons.

sentinal upgraded to create different alarm sounds depending on whether bike, car or truck.

sentinal will also go off automatically in the event of a fall.

64% bikers were european, the highest percentage ever, 7 out of 183 bikes were from the uk, so competition for places is increasing.

there is a training day on oct 11th - not sure where, but will no doubt be on the website - advised to go

there are some interesting events being run by aso in south america in the build up to the dakar which would be great training events, but they are imminent:

1/ desafio routa 40

- registration 13th may

- scrutineering 15th june

- it's a week event running a very similar route to the argentinian part of dakar 2014

2/ desafio inca

- registration 7th june

- 3 days in sand

dakar 2013 - stage 1

so the 2013 dakar has started today....449 vehicles started.... 183 bikes 38 quads 153 cars 75 trucks

very happy to be watching it, but would love to be out there to take in the atmosphere especially with so many british riders out there as well friends i made along the way....

peruvian rider #113 is making his 4th attempt to finish the dakar. i rode with him on and off and on stage 12 last year i spent 30 minutes trying to help him clear his engine and carb of water, having fallen while trying to ride a deep river section.

a university friend's elder brother, kevin muggleton, rider #186 representing the usa, his first attempt. 

jago, my riding buddy, is following the dakar in his truck, with si pavey's son lel and a bolivian rider's support team. watch chase the race on facebook and twitter.

james west #24 arrived in 8:59 in 38th place
stan watt #43 arrived in 9:00 in 43rd place
si pavey #51 arrived in 9:23 60th place
tim forman #162 arrived in 9:49 in 77th place
lyndon poskit #168 arrived in 9:52 in 78th place
kevin muggleton #186 arrived in 10:21 in 103rd place - time penalty speeding on liaison (USA) manuel lucchese #98 arrived in 10:45 in 117th place (ITA)
paul jay #176 arrived in 10:52 in 124th place
craig bounds #107 arrived in 11:36 in 151st place - malles moto
don hatton #110 arrived in 15:16 in 179th place (USA)

just seen kevin interviewed on eurosport and i might add that my dune shot is being broadcast on eurosport wehoo!!

day 1 done, rally really starts tomorrow!

the journey continues - interview with x fusion

kate tojeiro, executive performance coach http://www.the-x-fusion.co.uk, interviewed me as part of her 'x-fusion inspiring company' series and stuck it on youtube for all to see!

From Kate's Blog

‘Do one thing everyday that scares you’ Eleanor Roosevelt famously quoted.

Easily said and quoted, a little less easy to do. Of course when we do something that scares us slightly  (or a lot) we learn, grow and develop even if we don’t feel that way at the time. 

It is oft noted that people perform rather well when scared too. 

This week I’ve been very fortunate to meet three incredibly inspiring individuals who have each done things that many of us would consider a little bit, if not downright scary; Toby Younger who finished one of the toughest races on the planet, The Dakar, on a motorbike earlier this year, his first attempt.

Rene Carayol, an inspiring leader who regularly speaks out and asks the difficult and challenging questions irrespective of who may or may not like it.  He is formidable in his beliefs and most provocative.

And Paul Gurney, an adventurer who in a twelve month period is tackling both the 5 week extreme race to the magnetic North Pole and the Marathon des Sables. 

Fear is a curious emotion, that I’ve yet to completely comprehend. However, what I do know from the course of my work and general observation is that the majority of us spend our lives not only living in fear, but allowing it to dictate the terms of what we call life.

Whilst fear for sure has the potential to hold us back, being scared isn’t always quite as bad as it first appears.  Being scared generally means opportunities for growth and a step towards what’s outside that comfort zone and as those of you who know me will know, I’m all for that. 

If we face our fears rather than run from them, our perspective on what we can and can’t deal with, will change (and usually for the better).

And of course, when we look back over the years, those things that we were fearful or scared of, don’t phase us anymore. 

Obviously, we all wish to be safe and tend to design the world around us to be just that, though deep down many of us a crave a little bit more ‘scary’ in our lives. 

Not all ‘scary’ is created equal.  Fear and feeling scared is universal, though some see fear and use it as fuel to create the life they desire.

I happen to think a little bit of scared is a good thing, so long as it doesn’t stop you in your tracks?  

Watch this space…….

What will you do today that scares you?

My warmest wishes, 

Kate

the youtube edit

dakar 2012: the figures

just been checking in to see who's got a place in dakar 2013 and looked at the stats on this year's event. from a sponsorship point of view, this is starting to look very good for the amateurs, although we still need much more tv coverage in the uk:

4.5 million spectators
1,200 hours of TV broadcasts
1 billion viewers
271 million dollars of economic impact

Whilst the popular success of the Dakar in Argentina and Chile was once again confirmed, the reception encountered for the first time in Peru lived up to the expectations of the organisers and the country itself. According to a survey of the Peruvian public, 97% of people questioned said they were proud their country was hosting the Dakar.

Argentina: 1.7 million spectators

Chile: 1.2 million spectators

Peru: 1.5 million spectators

“The Dakar has been the biggest tourist promotion initiative in Argentina’s history,” according to Enrique Meyer, Argentinean Secretary of State for Tourism, interviewed during the first edition of the Dakar in South America in 2009.

• The direct and indirect impact of the rally in the three countries has been estimated at 271 million dollars.
• A public awareness survey conducted on representative samples of the populations in 9 countries (France, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, China, USA, and Japan) confirmed the increase in reputation and awareness provided by the Dakar. As a result, 730 million people declared that they discovered the host countries thanks to the Dakar, and 67% of them said they would like to visit these countries one day.

• Via 70 broadcasters, 190 countries received images from the rally, with a total coverage of 1,200 hours for one billion viewers.
• Taking account of the broadcast times of these programmes and the news reports, the audience of the various channels as well as the rates charged by their advertising departments, the worth of this exposure has been evaluated at 386 million dollars.
• On the race, 55 international, national or regional channels sent crews to produce their own images in addition to the programmes produced daily by the organisers.

• The web site attracted 4.3 million web users, i.e. an increase of 43% on the figures for 2011. In the video section, 5 million clips were viewed during the race, i.e. twice as many as in 2011.
• In addition to the content available on dakar.com, the official Facebook page brought together a community of 470,000 fans, whilst 40,000 people subscribed to follow the Dakar on Twitter.

dakar: epilogue

it's been over 4 months since i finished the dakar, but when i recap the stories i talk about it with as much disbelief as someone reading about it, it does not seem possible....

.......writing now, the pain and anguish still lingers, but the excitement of being part of the circus is always there..... i don't think this feeling will ever go away, a paradox.....

i'd been in south america for 26 days and 18 of those days had been with the dakar.....a baptism of desert burning fire....scarred for life.....a good scar to have, perhaps?

i'm training hard in and out of the gym, body repairing, getting strong again, energy levels back and not running off the dakar momentum (adrenaline!!), i'm travelling at my own pace.....but a new pace.....there is no going back to pre-dakar.....

struggling with the normality of life......

i just want to 'crack on!'