The dirt buggies line the start/finish straight like an organised Mad Max II. After the national anthem is sung at 7.30am, staggered starts last an hour.
The desert track to Finke River is 226km south. An honest time for this endurance is 2hrs 5min, averaging 113kmh on the dust. A bunch of helicopters follow the cars and beam back footage to the big screens at Alice. The desert soaked every bit of water like a sponge. You’d never know it’d been raining for the last 3 weeks. The track goes through Ewaninga, Deep Well, Rodinga, Alice Creek, Bundooma, Engoordina, Mt Squires and Rumbalara. 5 check points and 3 fuel stops.
As the ‘roll-bars and wheels with an engine somewhere’ head south, the XXXX Angels perform 4 dance routines and 2 meet-and-greets before the bikes kick off.
Tomorrow the competitors will return through clouds of dust to determine a champion and perpetuate the ongoing, and sometimes heated, discussion of bike/car endurance.
On the western edge of Alice, on the road to the West MacDonnell Ranges, is the grave and memorial to John Flynn. Flynn, amongst other things, started the Royal Flying Doctor Service. It was an inspired thought that day at the mint in paying tribute to a hero of the red-centre by depositing his face on the orange $20 note.
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