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Dakar Rally Cancelled

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That truly, truly stinks.

I know they had problems at Sharm el-Sheikh last year, so I am not surprised. But still....

You're right. It's hard to make a sensible comment about such an obnoxious matter.

By the way, the ~Plymouth-Dakar Challenge~ is <u>ON</u> right now....hope the good-natured folks in that event are OK.
 
That is sad news! How many years has the Paris-to Dakar run, I can't recall?
 
Just say "forever", Mike.

Sadly there will be more of this as time goes on.
 
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif
Yeah Doc; In today's volatile world, this is going to become one of the casualties.
Too bad, but at least no one dies.

SIGH!! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif

Dave
 
It's a little disturbed, but I had this image of a guy with a Semtex waistcoat seated astride a camel, mid desert, chasing after one of the trucks barrelling through at full chat shouting (in best foreign accent) "Slow down you bugger, so I can catch you", realising he has no chance, stopping and shaking his fist with a cry of "I'll get you on the way back"


I'll get my coat...
 
I've been following the Lisbon-Dakar rally with extra interest this year on the Adventure Rider.com website that features highly informative threads with info and videos created by some of the competitors and racing teams. I also belong to an adventure riding club and I'm involved in adventure riding activites. As such, the Dakar is a subject of interest to me.

Cancellation of this 30 year old, 10,000K race may be considered a "victory" for the al Qaeda-linked militants who directly threatened the rally. The terrorists won without firing a single shot, it seems.

Many privateers compete in the Dakar rally and receive little or no corporate monetary support. It costs an estimated minimum of $80,000 (bare minimum) for an American to compete in this race. It also takes many months, even years of preparation. That money, time and commitment is now all down the drain: <u>this</u> is the real tragedy, I think.

Another problem faced by the larger teams was the fact that major insurers of the event cancelled coverage because of the war risk involved. Without liability and accident insurance, corporations clearly could not go on.

Of course, the decision to cancel the event is highly controversial. Given the current scenario in this war-torn region, the decision by the French-based organizers is not imprudent, IHMO. The race ran through Mauritania where 8 or the race's 15 stages were to be held. And as we know, four family members were slain in Mauritania just before Christmas by a terror cell that's allegedly funded by al-Qaeda and uses the Mauritanian desert as a hideout.

A bad blow for motorsports in general and possibly a harbinger of things to come in other motorsports events across the globe. Will terrorists now target motorsports events because of this "success"???

Sad. The world's always been a dangerous place and this is just one more example.

To Hades with al-Qaeda: I hope they move it to Austrailia next year!
 
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