The 27th edition of the Dakar Rally has come under close scrutiny following the deaths of two motorbike competitors. Last Monday Spanish rider Jose Manuel Perez died of injuries sustained in a crash, and later in the week Italian Fabrizio Meoni died from a heart attack while racing.

This was Meoni’s thirteenth attempt at the most extreme rally race the globe has to offer, which he won in 2001 and 2002. This was to have been his final year in the race.

The twelfth stage was cancelled out of respect for the deceased, but the desert trek continued despite the grave losses.

The tragedies have seriously called the event, which has a history dating back to 1977, into question. Over that span 22 have lost their lives in the pursuit of the title “King of the Desert”.

The Dakar Rally is a gruelling challenge that takes place over a series of timed stages. There are three categories of vehicles involved: motorbike, car, and truck.

A beach in Barcelona served as the opening stage in 2005. The course gradually winded its way down towards Dakar in Senegal, where it finished on January 16. The times for each stage of the race are added together and a winner is announced in each of the three categories. The total distance works out at just less than 9,000 kilometres.

The race may seem fairly simple, but the nature of the terrain confronting the drivers is far from mundane. They do battle with huge sand dunes capable of flipping cars, sandstorms, and rocks. There is also the exhausting heat of the desert, which takes its toll on both the vehicles and their occupants during the race’s longer segments.

It is these unique conditions that attract and frustrate competitors every year. The number has risen steadily, despite the danger.

There is no specific entry requirement, although 9,000km requires a lot of gas, so privateers wishing to get involved must have some spare cash. The race attracts many rich entrepreneurs from across the world, mixed in with professional drivers.

The 2005 race sees a colourful array of nationalities, as racers hail from 39 countries. The field is comprised of 690 vehicles, including one homemade buggy!

This is not the first year that the tournament has been shrouded in controversy. In 1982 Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, went missing around the Mali-Algerian border. He was eventually rescued.

Sahara bandits robbed racers during the course of the 1999 race. Last year armed security forces stopped vehicles at gunpoint on the Mauritania border, charging each driver fifty euros for passage. The money proved to be a corrupt manoeuvre on behalf of local officials.

After the recent tragedies some teams have recalled their drivers, but most continue to march on toward the Senegalese capital. For many, the sense of real danger is what attracts them to the Dakar Rally each year.

The winners of the 2005 Dakar Rally were: C. Despres in the bike category, S. Peterhansel in the car category, and F. Kabirov in the truck division.