For those of you who can, please show up at Lakes and Beverly to give Don and Natalie a rousing welcome home. ETA 3:15. If you can be there earlier, all the better.
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Don and Natalie Hatton texted early this morning. They return today from Chile. Their plane was held up because of ice and snow in Toronto, so they will miss their flight from Vancouver to Victoria. We were expecting them to be at Lakes and Beverly by 2:30 this afternoon, but we are setting that back by an hour. We are planning a roadside wave for them. People who would like to join us can park at the Sportsplex and walk over to the park at the east side of the roundabout. They are in the air now, but I expect an update just after noon. I will keep you in the loop  The End of the Rally Left to right – Chelsea, Paul, Marianne, Simon, Linley, Natalie, Evan, Llewelyn, Don and Alex (click to enlarge).
It is hard to get texts and emails from Don and Natalie at the moment, since internet access is intermittent there at best. Also there is very tight security in the hotel due to a conference of South American Presidents. However, the bikes, truck and equipment has all been delivered to the port for return to Europe. This was the first opportunity everyone got a chance to have a really good look at Don’s bike and they were all shocked at the extensiveness of the damage. It looks like Don was very lucky to walk away from that one…or to be knocked 20 feet down the slope of the dune is closer to the truth. Congratulations to Simon Pavey for finishing the 2013 Dakar Rally!
For these independent riders to compete and complete at all is miraculous. The professionals have the back ups, the trucks, the teams and all the support they need provided. Which is why, in the video from Day Three, Johnny Campbell is relaxing in the shadow of his bike, simply awaiting the cavalry to come and save him. Not so for the independents. Congratulations again to Simon and also to Don for giving it his best shot. We have to find out where the lousy truck that hit him placed!! Natalie texted that while waiting on the road for Simon to come through, an ASO helicopter landed and someone got out to tell the large crowd to move back. The road is narrow and there was not enough room for the racers as well as the spectators. At this rate, Simon will be finished safely and the ceremonial podium is tomorrow. A bittersweet day for Don Hatton and Natalie, for sure. Latest Comment:
There is thick fog at the beginning of the special and the helicopter is grounded. the team was thinking that the first special would be cancelled but in fact it was only delayed. In the meantime reports are coming in that Francisco Lopez won the penultimate stage of this year’s Dakar Rally. whereas last night they were reporting that it was Robby Gordon. This last stage has no dunes, but is pavement all the way to Santiago. There is rain and low hanging cloud cover.
Simon has not been able to properly use the road book these past four days and has had to stop and manually scroll it forward so that he can see where he is supposed to go. Today he had to deal with flash flooding that ultimately lead to cancellation of a portion of the stage he was riding. . Simon and the support team have just crossed the Andes into Chile. They are in good spirits and they are looking forward to completion of the rally! At the time of writing, Simon has just passed Point 4 of Stage 12. Most of the morning, it has been downhill, he has to refuel shortly before heading back up into the mountains. Don called this morning at 8:30 to ask that I post the following:
Don and Natalie and family are leaving Vina del Mar today, headed to La Serena hoping to join Simon and the crew there before the last day of rally. With luck they may make Copiapo which is on the third to last day before end of the rally in Santiago. At this point, they are thinking they will be back in Duncan by the 27th or 28th. Natalie will be texting as they continue. For those of you who missed the interview on Friday on CFAX, here is the interview broken into five parts. Interview Part I (7 mins.) Interview Part II (9.24 mins.) Interview Part III (8:38 mins) Interview Part IV (9:06 mins) Interview V (0:45 secs) After one day of rest, Simon Pavey, the other half of our team, starts at 3 a.m. tomorrow. At least it will be cooler as he rides than the 40 degrees they have been suffering to date. The wear and tear is beginning to tell, as Llewellyn his support guy is not feeling that well. Get better soon, Llewellyn!!
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