Sunday, January 3, 2010

Dakar 2010 Takes Its Toll





  1. I heard that this is the last year that the Dakar will be held here.

  2. I had not heard this, though I would hope so. Yet it's hard to see the race returning to Africa without major security improvements in Mauritania, and that seems unlikely (mind you, the Dakar is no less destructive in Africa than it is in South America).

  3. Possibly worth noting that the spectators that were hurt were viewing the race from an area that was off-limits to spectators (on the outside of a turn).

    Another note (not that it is environmentally benign, but...) most of the rally--with the exception of sections in the dunes--is run over existing pistes in differing states of maintenance.

    FYI--if it returns to Africa, it won't run to Senegal via Mauritania--it will go from morocco across to libya/egypt.

    Excellent blog, by the way.

  4. Thank you for the thoughtful comment. It's true that the dead woman and the injured were where they shouldn't have been, but that's inevitable in this sort of event. They were fortunate that this was the only fatality, as one motorcycle rider - an Italian, if I recall correctly - ended up in a coma, but eventually came out of it.

    I stand by my comments on the destructive aspects of Dakar - we should be looking to rehabilitate damaged deserts, not make them worse.


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