Completing Dakar Rally 'best day' of biker's life

A motorcyclist who was injured competing in the Dakar Rally last year has said finishing the race this year had been the "best day" of his life.

Robbie Wallace, from Northallerton, took part in the event in Saudi Arabia which saw him cover 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of mostly off-road terrain, including sand dunes and desert, over two weeks.

He finished in 43rd place out of 90 competitors on motorbikes – taking the top British finisher spot and achieving his lifelong dream of a gold finisher's medal.

The 28-year-old attempted the race in 2025 but fell and knocked himself out and was unable to complete the event as an official finisher.

"Finishing the Dakar Rally on a motorbike has been a dream of mine since I was a child and I never thought I would get the opportunity to even compete in this race," Wallace said.

"But after many years of hard work and determination I was able to get there and finish. You just always have to believe, I guess."

Hundreds of competitors, on motorbikes and in cars and trucks, participate in the annual event.

Wallace, who is an overhead lines co-ordinator with Northern Powergrid, first began riding at the age of eight and competed in his first race at 11.

He said he had been confident his KTM 450 motorbike would get him through but that the race had been as mentally challenging as it was physically, with daily 04:00 starts across the 14 days.

"You are doing hugely long days, it's extremely difficult, early starts, riding at high speed with a lot of danger thrown in," Wallace said.

He added that the majority of the event is off-road.

"You're going through the desert seeing all these crazy landscapes and then a lot of it is in sand dunes as well, they're probably the most difficult to ride and the most challenging and probably the most dangerous as well."

He said he had watched the race on TV since childhood and never believed he would get the chance to do it.

"You see a lot of camels which run round and they always seem to run in the wrong direction when you're riding towards them on your bike.

"So you have to try to predict their movements which is very difficult and very unpredictable."

This year's race, which concluded on 17 January, was not without its incidents - with Wallace hurting his back in a fall during the second week of racing.

"I've not quite fully recovered but I haven't stopped smiling to be honest, so that's a good sign, but I think it'll be a few more weeks before I'm riding a bike again."

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