Over the past few months we have been reporting on the progress of David Reeve, our man at Le Dakar.

‘The Team’ consisting of David, his riding mate, Ingo, from Namibia and the mechanics and support persons left at the end of December, arriving in Lima in good time to get the bikes unpacked and prepared for the race.

Thanks to the internet and satellite phones, we were able to receive daily reports of David’s performance and progress on a daily basis as well as the trials and tribulations of the support team such as altitude sickness and the drag of having to put up and take down tents every day.

David obviously took things slowly on Day 1, coming in at position 170-something. But on the days that followed it was clear that he was feeling comfortable and was sitting at 29th when bag luck struck. The full details are not clear but it resulted in a broken leg and David out of the race. His followers were devastated. Our man was down!

But this incident also restored our faith in the innate goodness of mankind. A fellow rider, Norwegian, Pål Anders Ullevålseter (PAL), who was riding behind David saw that David was in a state of shock so PAL stopped to press the red button installed on each bike which would summon help for David. That a fellow rider would stop and help you is not necessarily a given at Dakar and PAL lost valuable time through this kind act. Thank you, PAL, not only from David but from his family, friends and all his supporters.

David was evacuated to South Africa where he received the necessary medical attention and will be home in the next few days.

But it doesn’t end there. David’s supporters, to show their appreciation, are clubbing together to raise money to bring PAL to Zambia later this year to ride in one of the MSA Enduro’s. Any additional funds raised will be used for any outstanding expenses from David’s Dakar 2013 attempt and to encourage participation by more Zambians in Motorcross.  If you would like to contribute to this worthy cause, please contact David via email dereeve@zamtel.zm