This year’s Paris to Dacre Dual Sport Challenge will set off on its great Ontario backroads adventure in the wee small hours of July 12.
For those who ran it in previous years, now’s the time to get signed up to take advantage of an advance on registration of two weeks, which lasts until Mar. 15, when anyone can sign up. Overall registration closes June. 21.
The 2008 Paris-Dacre starts in Harley (near Paris, which is near Brantford), Ont., at 4 a.m. taking a mixture of gravel roads and trails, finishing 765 km later at Dacre, which is near Renfrew, Ont.
It’s the third running of the Paris-Dacre, which honours all Paris-Dakar Rally riders, but especially Bob Bergman, an Ontario Dual Sport Club member who finished the 2005 Paris-Dakar Rally as a privateer.
The event is set up by Rally Connex (in collaboration with the ODSC), and this year, it pays a special tribute to Tod Davidson, who might have participated in the 2008 Dakar, but for unforeseen events that led to its cancellation.
The official starter will be Helmut Clasen, who was inducted into the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2007.
Entries are limited to teams riding road legal dual sport bikes. See www.rallyconnex.com for more.
