Photos from the Dorset Dakar 2023

A whole bunch of photos from today’s excellent Dorset Dakar : mainly taken by Paul Wirdnam, David Johnson-Newell, Ray Dickinson and Colin Jacobs. If you’re a Facebook user, Paul Miles has posted another batch, with videos, on that platform,

I’d like to personally thank Andrew & Alison Rae and Ray & Linda Dickinson for all the hard work they’ve put into making this such a successful event…and this is only the 2nd year of holding it!

First Report is from the Run Organiser, Andrew Rae:

Brief Report from the viewpoint of the C of the C. Firstly an enormous thank you to all my fellow workers on this project , without your hard work we would all have stayed clean today. Apologies for the change of start location due to a double booking error by Compton Abbas airfield due in part to a major re-building project, we hope to return in the future.

In total 28 riders signed on, not too bad with the weather being very changeable but I feel not as bad as forecast, the donations to Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance have not been counted as yet but feels pretty weighty , so hope fully a good sum to pass on to a very worthy cause. Due to the weather riding conditions were more challenging than I had hoped for the time of year, and caused the Clovelly spoon of the Donkey to be awarded To Bernard Jones mounted (mostly) on a Honda 350cc who valiantly tested one of Newtons laws 5 times, well done !

Just two very minor grumbles chaps , the aim of the Dorset Dakar is to encourage newcomers to gentle green lane riding possibly on that old Bantam or James laying in the back of the garage, so could all you ex moto cross guys ease your pace a bit and take in the views etc , finally we can only recommend strongly that you ride in pairs so that if one of you has a problem someone is there to assist, as the club is unable to supply rescue vehicles on this type of route.

Nonetheless we do hope you all had a good time and ate plenty of cake and we hope return to a three stop system next year.

Andrew.

Second Report is from our Section Chairperson, Paul Miles:

Under threatening-looking skies, following some earlier rain, a healthy turnout of 28 riders riders gathered at the start for the second running of our premier (only!) off-road event, the Dorset Dakar! Suitably fortified with tea and cake, graciously provided by Alison Rae, they set out in pairs, brilliantly waved off by our youngest member, Tom.

Despite the demanding-sounding title, the DD is actually designed to be a fun and non-competitive off road run, with novices and vaguely unsuitable bikes being especially welcome. This year didn’t disappoint, as well as the pukka dirt machines, we also had several road bikes, including a stock Enfield Bullet and a pre-unit t120 Bonneville!

Conditions were reassuringly lumpen, with a fair amount of muddy sections courtesy of the earlier rain. The Ford crossing at Stratford Tony was deeper than usual and claimed several victims, although several heroic riders made it look easy.

Massive thanks to the chief organiser, Andrew Rae and his team of volunteers and I must mention our special award – the Clovelly Spoon, presented to the rider who best exemplifies the spirit of the event. This year, it went to our very own Bernard Jones, riding his first DD on a 70s Honda soft-roader. Complete with hard, skinny and wholly inappropriate tyres! I lost count of the number of times I found him face down in the mud, but it was at least five! Well done, Bernard, a Sterling effort!

And so to the photos…