 Dakar 2011. Click image to enlarge |
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Dakar 2011
Atacama Desert, Chile – ‘Racing,’ the word and the action, means very different things depending on what part of the world you inhabit; however, no matter what part of the planet you call home, the word does universally stand for competition. This fact was driven home to me by the UV rays cooking me alive in the Atacama Desert of South America, a place where I had to battle the elements just to watch racers doing the same thing, in addition to challenging each other.
The Atacama Desert, in the northern part of Chile, is the driest place on earth. In fact, there is so little water here that at its centre there is no life of any kind, not plants, animals or even bacteria. Yet through this normally silent sterile world, once a year the engines of the Dakar roar. This is the longest, most brutal off-road race in the world. Over 5,000 kilometres run over 12 days – all testing machine and man.
 Dakar 2011. Click image to enlarge |
Dakar, originally called the Paris to Dakar rally, is now in its third decade. Having spent most of its years on the continent of Africa, three years ago it crossed the Ocean to South America and now runs through Argentina and Chile, in terrain that is as formidable as anything the race used to cover in Africa. It’s amazing to see the level of support and popularity here among the citizens who come out in droves to the start and end of each stage – no easy feat because these are often hundreds of kilometres from any populated area.
And that’s why I found myself in this out-world landscape slowly roasting like the dumb Canadian I am. Soon after the first sunburn appeared, I noted that all our Chilean drivers were bundled head to toe, as if cold, and I quickly learned that staying totally covered is necessary. It’s the dead of summer at the bottom of the world right now, and as you can imagine, it’s hot in the desert. However, because it’s so dry and at such extreme elevation (between 3,00 and 5,000 meters) the overall feeling is deceptively cool. The temperature falls into the single digits at night and rarely rise over 25 degrees Celsius in the daytime yet, as I figured out, the strength of the sun on this wasteland of stone will cook any exposed skin in short order.
  Dakar 2011. Click image to enlarge |
I attended Dakar as a guest of Volkswagen, whose race-prepared Touaregs have won the last two years here (and went on to win again this year). But they are just one team among several hundred motorcycles, ATVs, buggies, trucks and large transport vehicles which all churned through the desert in search of a championship. While most races are won or lost in an afternoon, Dakar is different. These competitors bring days of stress, fatigue and worry to look forward to, and by the time I saw them at the end of each day they were simply bone weary, fixed with a permanent squinting stare and walking as if suspended between a zombie and the dead.
While spectating at a race like this is fascinating, it’s safe to say that those who will follow it on TV will see more than I did. Sadly, Canadian coverage is sparse; checking for broadcasts online will net you multiple options, though, most coming out of Europe, where this race is huge.
As journalists, we have to settle for seeing the start and end of stages, while camping out in the desert watching racers pass by. However, the eleven helicopters and dozen fixed wing aircraft that follow the action across the salt flats, over the dunes and through the mountains often catch the dramatic moments that we miss. However, what video can’t communicate is the dust, heat, the lack of oxygen at altitude and the unrelenting fury of the sun. As a spectator here, I got just a taste of what these competitors faced throughout their average 10 to 16 hour days – I was worn out just watching! They suffered the same conditions but were also always just one split-second decision away from potential disaster.
