missed out by just 1 place … an achievement not to be
ashamed of.
“I came with no expectations other than to finish,”
shrugged Houlihan. ““I had a couple of bad days and a
few really good days.”
It’s the story of the rally, it’s what it takes to finish
such an event and for Houlihan its now Dakar … not
the city, the race. Next year he’ll take on the world’s
biggest rally.
Matt Sutherland was a late entry and drafted into
Lyndon Poskitt’s Race 2 Places team after a regular
rider was struck by illness. Although born in Ballarat
(Victoria) Sutherland now calls Vancouver home and
left immediately to take on the sands of north-west
Africa.
Sutherland agreed with Houlihan in that the race
was tough, “it was a crazy hard race.” The Australian
had a great event finishing 7th outright despite the
challenges thrown at him; accidents, getting lost,
technical issues all conspired to halt Sutherland’s rally.
His determination and race craft earned the respect of
TRAVERSE 103