My Story

On 16 March 2019, I will swap life in the fast lane (or the rather sedate middle lane at a sensible 70 officer!) to embark on the adventure of my lifetime and take the Moroccan desert by storm by joining 160 other teams in the 29th edition of the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles du Maroc, the only all women rally in the world that takes place 100% off-road. To spice things up, the use of phones and GPS is banned and the only navigation equipment allowed will be a good old-fashioned 1950s hand-drawn map and a compass; a piece of cake for someone who only has mild directional dyslexia – unfortunately, mine is pretty acute and tying the left arm behind my back apparently breaches health and safety!

Thankfully, I will not be doing this alone! My childhood friend, Hélène (the mathematical and sensible one) will be there to share the hysterical laughs, the depth of despair, big girl tears and hopefully the ultimate glow of glorious achievement. Most importantly we’ll share a tent (it’s a lie, Quechuas do not open in 2-seconds!) and the trusty shovel …. (a recent training camp in situ confirmed that indeed the shovel is your best friend in sand dunes)!

And, of course, behind every great woman, there is an even greater … car! In our case: Rocket Ronnie, an all-singing-all-dancing 4 x 4 Jeep Wrangler that will be our home and our trusty steed through the stunningly exotic landscapes of Erg Chegaga and Merzouga desert for the 9-day competition. We can’t wait and the Rocket is packed and raring to go – spare tyres included which allegedly will be required and yes, Popeye here will be in charge of changing them!

This project has been almost 12 months in the making and right from the start I knew I wanted to link up with a charity that meant something to me and where any funds raised would have a real impact. There could only be one choice: 52Lives, a wonderful charity that helps change someone’s life every week of the year thanks to the kindness of strangers. It is a truly inspirational charity that brings joy, warmth, comfort, love and hope to people in need of a break or of a helping hand. What it achieves week in week out thanks to the generosity and kindness of others restores my faith in humanity and belief that there is good in every one of us.

Rocket Ronnie will proudly sport the colours of 52Lives during our gruelling 2,200 kms challenge across Morocco. It would mean the world to us if you could join the Gazelles 141 spirit and help us spread a little kindness in this world by supporting our fund-raising effort. 100% of all donations will go to 52Lives and 52Lives will allocate all money raised to the various lives and projects it supports.

I’ll update all our kind sponsors as we go - to include all the gory and glory details!

Thank you.