2009 Dakar 14 -- Camelia Liparoti
b"Garry chats with Italian quad rider Camelia Liparoti, who shares her perspectives on the rally with us in this great(!) call.Here's the Dakar profile for Camelia:She has been thinking about it for 12 years. Her uncle,\\na mechanic in her native Tuscany had her cleaning the spark plugs in\\nher car. \\u201cI never got dirty\\u201d, she says laughingly. \\u201cI was fascinated by\\nengine noise\\u201d.\\n\\n\\nIt runs through Carm\\xe9lia Liparoti\\u2019s veins. This petite\\nlady\\u2019s passion is the quad; she seeks adventure and has dreamed about\\nthe Dakar for quite awhile.\\u201d I have covered the rally three times as a\\njournalist\\u201d. These elements came into focus for the photographer.\\nCam\\xe9lia has had this challenge in the back of her mind since she\\ndecided to return but on the other side of the lens as a competitor. \\u201cI\\nwant to be the first woman to reach Dakar on a quad\\u201d.\\n\\n\\nSince discovering the rally she has prepared to take it\\non. In the three years she has amassed experience on raid adventures on\\nevery continent. Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Russia,\\nFinland, Canada even Madagascar were all stops along the way. Colleague\\nand past Dakar competitor, Francis Gu\\xe9rand is lending Carm\\xe9lia a hand.\\nHe too ran a quad on the Dakar. He acted as a \\u201cSherpa\\u201d over the entire\\nrally distance.\\n\\n\\nThe Italian lady lives in Chamonix, France and at home\\nskiing is her first love. \\u201cSkiing\\u2026 the lines and slopes are a great to\\nlearn more about riding a quad. It\\u2019s all about sliding which is also\\nhow you attack a valley of dunes.\\u201d Luc Alphand, her \\u2018Godfather, on the\\nDakar wouldn\\u2019t disagree."