Dying to do the Dakar by Jaqhama

My mate Sleddog was shocked that 49 riders/drivers and a few others have died since the Paris-Dakar Rallye started back in 1979.

I've followed the Dakar pretty much since that first race, I've been fortunate enough to have met some of the riders over the years.

Here are my thoughts on people who are dying to race in the Dakar. It's not a kids jaunt across the back garden on a MX bike. Always surprises me so many people on various bike forums are so shocked and upset?

It's a very dangerous race, of course people are likely to die, the danger is part of the attraction. Like the man said..."The Dakar is the Dakar."

One minute you're blasting across the desert sands, the next moment you're gone. There are worse ways to go than doing something you love. We should all be so lucky. You don't enter the Dakar thinking you're going to get killed, but you realise it's a possibility and carry on anyway. The rally is one of the last great adventures in a world where everyday we are more and more controlled and coddled and cosseted.

Don't feel sad that riders died in the rally, be happy that they went out doing something they had dreamed of all their lives.

The quote below from Homer's The Iliad which contains the story of the Trojan War.

"For my mother the goddess, silver-footed Thetis, tells me that twofold fates are bearing me toward the doom of death: if I abide here and play my part in the siege of Troy, then lost is my home-return, but my renown shall be imperishable; but if I return home to my dear native land, lost then is my glorious renown, yet shall my life long endure, neither shall the doom of death come soon upon me." [Achilles to Odysseus. Homer, Iliad 9.410]

How many of us really get to live our dreams? Are they not worth dying for?