There was once a time when the Dakar raced to
Dakar; the capital of the west African nation of Senegal.
Political unrest, economies and security fears all meant
that the Dakar was constantly under threat and in 2008
the event was cancelled and ultimately moved to South
America.
With their event now gone the people of Morocco,
Western Sahara, Mauritania and Senegal wanted, per-
haps needed, a replacement and so by the end of the
Dakar’s cancelled year a replacement was conceived,
prepared and held, starting in December of the same
year. The Africa Race followed the course of the origi-
nal Dakar events. This race was held in the true spirit
of those early Dakar’s.
Now into its 12th edition the Africa Race claims to
be the ecologically responsible version of the world’s
greatest rally, with a commitment to environment and
cultural areas of significance. The Africa ECO Race
tries to do what it can to help the people of the coun-
tries visited like care for their land while ensuring the
event leaves no trace that a world class rally has been
through the environment. Events focusing on environ-
ment, culture, and health all take place during the rally
however, the Africa ECO Race doesn’t acknowledge the
political issues in the areas visited.
The environmental aspect of the ECO Race has seen
numerous innovations win in most classes including;
Willy Jobard winning the bikes in 2011 aboard a Hy-
brid KTM. The pros and cons of having an ecologically
version of the original Dakar is a good argument and
perhaps for another time, we’re here to talk about the
Australians on the race to Dakar …
Three Australians took part in the 2020 Africa ECO
Race, 14 days of racing from France to Senegal, all three
on KTM’s.
Andrew Houlihan took part in the ECO Race as a
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