#117 🇿🇦Kirsten Landman – Original by Motul

“I DECIDED I WAS NEVER COMING BACK…”

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 Dutch woman Mirjan Pol and the all conquering Laia Sanz.

“I remember crossing the finish line to be greeted by Dakar boss David Castera holding a bunch of flowers. As I was just trying to get to the end I hadn’t really been following the results and had no idea I had finished in 3rd place. It was a pleasant surprise but not enough of one to reverse the decision I’d already made to never come back… it was so cold in the mornings that year… And then I made the fatal mistake of watching the 2021 edition on the TV and before I knew it I had decided to sign 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. This year though I’m doing it a little bit differently and racing in the “Original by Motul” class. Logically, as I’ll be doing my own assistance, that should mean that I won’t be able to finish as well as on my previous attempt. Except that’s not really how I function. So, in addition to challenging myself to race unassisted I aim to improve on my 2020 placing and now that Laia Sanz is out of the picture why not have a crack at winning the women’s category.”