“Everything happens for a reason…”

In 2013 Kirsten Landman had a really bad high speed crash racing off-road at home in South Africa and spent 2 weeks ‘touch and go’ in hospital. Once she had eventually recovered and was able to get back on a bike she decided to switch to extreme enduro where the speeds are much lower, as is the risk of serious injury. But with her new riding career going so well people started to ask her what her next move was going to be and inevitably the Dakar was mentioned. Initially she wasn’t interested but somehow the seed of an idea got planted and in 2018 she set herself a 2 year goal to get to herself to the start line of the first Saudi Arabian edition. She finished a highly respectable 55th overall and 3rd female in the motorcycle class behind the all-conquering Laia Sanz. Signing up again for the 2022 edition, a positive Covid test on Christmas Eve meant she was unable to travel to Saudi Arabia for the start of the race had to put back her plans another year, but as she says: ‘everything happens for a reason…’

“I was pleasantly surprised to have finished third in 2020 but not enough to reverse my decision never to come back…. It was so cold in the mornings that year… And then I made the ‘mistake’ of watching the 2021 edition on the TV and before I knew if I was signing up for another go. Until then I hadn’t realised how much I missed it. Not just the actual riding but the whole build up to it, the training, the planning, even the looking for sponsors. Getting a positive Covid test was a massive blow and a bit of a mystery because I’d been self-isolating since before the beginning of December. Then on 8 January, when I should have been on my bike, my mum was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer and I was able to nurse her until the end… I didn’t get back on a bike until the following June and my sponsors ASP Rope Access International were super understanding about the whole situation, an athlete’s dream. Since I started riding again I’ve done the Sea to Sky extreme enduro in Turkey and of course the Roof of Africa back home. In addition, with the help of Saudi rider Mishal Al-Ghunaim and my friend and Dakar competitor Phil Wilson I was able to go out and train in Saudi which was really useful. Now I’m feeling fit and relaxed and looking forward to the race.”