Mission accomplished
For him it was not just a completion of a 13-day race but of a 10-year long dream
He’s just arrived back in South Africa after spending 13 days riding a motorcycle through the desert in South America, but he is sporting a huge smile.
Forty-one-year-old Joey Evans is one of only three South Africans participating in this year’s Dakar Rally to have completed the race that took place from 2–14 January. But what makes his accomplishment one to take note of, is the challenges he overcame to get there.
He has always dreamed of competing in the Dakar Rally, but his dream was put on hold when a bad accident left him paralysed from the chest down. “The doctors told me, in light of my spinal cord injuries, I would never be able to walk again. I refused to accept that and started working on my recovery,” he said. It took hard work, a lot of physiotherapy, a back operation, determination and a lot of support from family and friends, but he managed to recover enough to start riding a motorcycle again.
Last year he entered the Merzouga Rally in Morocco, and qualified to enter the Dakar Rally. “Now I had to start working to get everything together to actually get there. And that is where all my friends, family and sponsors came in – if it wasn’t for them I would never have been able to compete. Especially my wife, who is amazing! She is my biggest supporter,” said Joey.
The Dakar Rally went through Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina this year and consisted of more than 9 000 kilometres of off-road riding. “It is a very dangerous race, you have to watch out for speeding cars and trucks, the visibility is poor because of all the dust and the race is physically and mentally exhausting,” he said. The race is done in stages (there are 13 of them) and each day covers anything from 600 kilometres to 1 200 kilometres.
“One day I rode for 22 hours and covered 1 150 kilometres! The race is designed to grind you down, you are exhausted, have no energy and are always hungry. It is a race you finish with your mind because your body finished days ago already,” he said, smiling a little.
What motivated him to keep going? He smiled as he answered the question, “I am very stubborn! I decided to finish, before I even started the race. If I could no longer ride the bike, I would walk, pushing the bike, or even crawl to the finish line. I spent 10 years battling a spinal cord injury, two weeks seemed nothing compared to that.”
He described the feeling he had when he crossed the finish line as amazing. “I felt relief, excitement, hunger, a mix of emotions really. I felt accomplished when they hung the medal around my neck and the cheering crowds were wonderful!” he said.
Watch a video of Joey finishing the rally here:
He will be resting for a while now, and is not sure exactly what he will be doing next. “I would love to do some motivational talks and inspire people facing different challenges, reminding them that they should keep going and do what they can with what they have. Run your own race and don’t worry about the competitors,” he said.
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