An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir September 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 32 | By SGT ERIC DAlTON, IWW, DFTC An Cosantóir September 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 32 | and Back I always loved motorbikes and I got my first one as soon as I got my first job. The seed was planted and it just kept growing. When I joined the army I had hoped to get into 2 Cav Sqn but it wasn't an option and I spent 14 years serving with 2 Fd Arty Regt. When I joined up I wasn't using my bike any longer, so I sold it. Even though bikes faded into the background from then that seed was still there. Then, about five years ago when the re-org happened I found myself in the unit I had always wanted, 2 Cav Sqn. Once there I did the Basic Dis- patch Riders (DR) Course and, shortly after, the DR Instructors Course. At the same time with a look to the future I did my Advanced Driving Instructor (ADI) exam with the Road Safety Authority, achieving a pass as a category A motorcycle instructor. During the basic DR course I got my first chance to ride an off-road bike on a dedicated off-road course in the Curragh Camp. I really en- joyed this and purchased an off-road racing bike shortly after. I was now determined to make a go of it and improve my skills both on and off road so I could pass on what I learned to my students when instructing. This was to start everything in motion to fulfil a dream of competing in a long- distance endurance rally; something like the Paris to Dakar event, where my bike and I would have to be self- contained, and where I would have to do all the work and the navigation. I began training at Aaron Rider Training in Finglas with retired ser- geant Peter Bookey, a former DR instructor in the Defence Forces who had raced in two Rally Raid events. As part of my training I started to do an event called the Paddy Dakar every September in Doon Co Limerick. This is a charity event that is run in recognition of those Irishmen who competed and finished the Dakar Rally. It was here that I meet the five lads that I would eventually compete with in an endurance rally in Greece. Having met and talked to the Irish Dakar finishers it became apparent that we couldn't raise the money to compete in the Dakar Rally, which now takes place in South America. Instead, we decided to set our sights on the Hellas Rally Raid in Greece, which is seen as a warm up for the Dakar. It still took two years of preparation and saving to get my bike built into a rally bike; buy new personal protective equipment/riding gear; learn to read a road book (the method of naviga- tion used) and read it while riding as fast as possible; learn more in-depth bike maintenance; get my personal affairs sorted, such as specific insur- ance for the bike and myself; and get my head ready for what was going to be the toughest thing I had ever done. On the 20th of May this year I found myself standing in the registration line in Greece with rally champions, endur- ance champions, professional riders and amateurs alike. (The professionals race in a class of their own but they are still there, and get no better treatment than anyone else.) The bikes are di- vided into different classes depending on engine size and riders in each class compete to win their class and against everyone else to win the overall race. There were 208 riders signed up on for the Hellas Rally Raid 2017 edition. The following day we headed off on a prologue that would decide our starting position on day one of the rally proper. The prologue consisted of 75kms of riding as fast as you possible could in order to achieve a good starting position and I ended up in 110th position. This year brought a new challenge to the Hellas Rally Raid... rain! It had never rained during any of the previ- ous Hellas Rally events and it made an already tough rally even tougher. Although there were on and off thunderstorms that brought torrential rain, it meant the temperatures where kept down and that suited me just fine. However, we had made a poor tire choice, picking a tire we thought would last us throughout the rally but now it was like we were on ice. This led to me having a major crash on day two that saw me lose a lot of time. I had finished stage one that day with the fastest time of the Irish who had travelled together and we went into the second stage on a high. At around the 42km mark I crashed and went off an embankment. It took over an hour to get the bike back on the road and it had suffered damage to the elec- trics and the navigation equipment,

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