LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Dakar Rally
built 292 days ago
The 2008 Dakar Rally was canceled on January 4, 2008 amid fears of terrorist attack(s). This caused serious doubts over the future of the rally. Various newspapers in Africa called the cancellation a "death sentence" for the race. Chile and Argentina, in South America, offered their territory to host the event, as well as the Czech Republic,[2] or Hungary[3] in Central Europe. The ASO finally decided to stage the 2009 event in the two South American countries, between January 3-18, 2009.[1]
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The Dakar Rally is 6000 miles of hard racing, 15 stages in 16 days with most of the racing taking place in North Africa. In a Feb. 6th, 2006 issue of AutoWeek magazine, J.P. Vettraino wrote: "Dakar has it all- mud, gravel, boulders, mountain trails, riverbeds and tide pools. Yet it's the dunes that forge winners and melt losers. As much as the bandits, land mines, political unrest and sheer isolation, the dunes make Dakar alternately the last great terrestrial adventure race, a perverse display of Eurocentric excess, and a suicide mission".
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When the endurance rider Gjermund Frostad (39) from Lier starts his Yamaha 450 in the Dakar Rally, he probably will have a bit better conscience than most other participants. In fact, Gjermund has bought CO2 quotas to neutralize the emissions of both the preparations and the riding of the almost 1000 Norwegian miles long desert rally.
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For the 30th Dakar Rally, the recce teams that work on establishing the route have an initial goal to accomplish. The objective is to offer the riders and crews no less than 6000km of special stage, in other words the longest timed distance since 2002.
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Al-Qaeda threats against the Dakar Rally and an attack in Mauritania forced organizers to cancel the annual race on Friday, the eve of the 5,760-mile trek across North African desert scrubland and savannah. It was the first time the automobile, motorbike and truck rally has been called off in its 30-year history. In a statement, organizers blamed “threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organizations.” the Dec. 24 killings of a French family and international tensions. Full Story
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The Dakar Rally was deemed too inviting a target for al-Qaida's new north African affiliate. The roughly 550 competitors were to have embarked on Saturday from Lisbon, Portugal on the 16-day, 5,760-mile trek through remote and hostile dunes and scrub to Dakar in Senegal, west Africa. At least two dozen competitors have died in crashes and other mishaps in previous editions.
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Dakar Rally