It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over...

Well the competition has finished, the celebrations are over (more about those later), but the drama continues...

Today brought an arduous 10 hour journey to Tangers to catch the ferry back to France after only 4 hours sleep, on top of two weeks of general sleep deprivation (anything later than a 4 am start seems quite generous these days), and arriving in one piece was more luck than judgement. The most effective method of staying awake involved counting to 20, eating a crisp, and repeating. Over. And over. And over.

Once in Tangers, Caroline managed to lose what remained of the Total convoy when she was flagged down by a nutter in a car driving alongside her. Fear gripped her when she realised he was not a nutter at all, but was telling her that he had seen someone climb into the back of her 4x4 at the traffic lights (remember that urban horror myth??). When she opened up the back - with some trepidation - the only telltale sign was a shoe poking out from among the sand plaques. The authorities were straight in and apprehended her stowaway, so her brush with exporting illegal immigrants was shortlived, and Moroccan jail narrowly but fortunately avoided.

The Gazelles (minus Donna who is resting with her husband David in Essaouira) are currently onboard the ferry, delayed by the last (lost?) Gazelles before setting sail for the 40 hour return boat journey to Sete which will probably involve some serious sleep. Inch'allah!

The arrival parade in Essaouira

Team 147: Donna and Caroline (and Bessie the 4x4) - all cleaned up for the parade!

The parade along the beach - complete with helicopter guard of honour!

Team TOTAL - awaiting the start of the parade - solidarity!

Memories...

On our way from Foum to Essaouira we composed this small list - while things were fresh in our mind and the rally had not reached the awesome climax of Saturday's arrival and parties...

Things we will miss:

• The excitement of spotting the red balise
• Fresh-made beignets and Moroccan pancakes for breakfast
• Bessie the world's best 4x4, who functioned just fine for us even without having her air filters checked once!
• Herds of camels
• Wild donkeys
• Incredible birds that followed us all day
• As much bottled water as we wanted when we wanted it
• Just getting into the car and driving...
• Erfoud - and our old friend the circle mountain
• Dunes at daybreak
• Lunar and Martian landscapes
• The oasis (M'Hamid and the other along the Draa River)
• The feeling of crawling into bed physically exhausted
• The excitement of the start line
• Rolling through the finish line with "I'm Too Sexy" blaring - and the roll bars turned into a new type of poll to dance from!
• Feeling like a celebrity with all the photographers, journalists and videographers everywhere
• The hilarious tales over the dinner table of everyone's misfortunes
• Meeting so many new people
• Not being a mobile phone addict (for two weeks!)
• Team 152 and their continuous need for our air compressor - we loved them!
• Speaking French all day long
• Dominique Serra's "Bonjour" at 4 am
• The feeling of getting navigation right - oh the joy in spotting a Hassi or a road within about 0.3km of the predicted distance!

Things we won't miss:

• Dust and sand everywhere!
• Checking and adjusting our tire pressure about twenty times a day
• "Donnez moi un stylo" "Donne!" "Donne!" "Donne!"
• Dominique Serra's "Bonjour" at 4 am
• Waking up at 4 am
• Putting away the Quechua tents
• Dirty and broken fingernails
• Sandstorms, halestorms, and mud
• The fear of darkness falling when lost in the desert
• Helmets! (oh our ears hurt!)
• The lack of time in the morning to comb our hair
• Checking our air filter, water, and oil levels - OOPS!
• Teams not playing by the rules - such as filling up on third party petrol in a village which is forbidden - and then going on to place EXTREMELY WELL and taking a prize - you know who you are and we completely disapprove...
• Speaking French all day long
• The Draa River bed... ghastly!

Marathon Leg, Take Two

On Wednesday we set off on our second 'marathon leg' or overnight stage of the rally. We started off with hgh ambitions to do all 10 flags over the two days. However the terrain went from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Flag 1 was on the roads - so far so good! Flag 2 saw us on a flat open hazy plain with no obvious landmarks to guide us, and our car was now needing serious realignment, and we had nothing
but a compass! Despite this we managed to stay in a straight line for about 25km and took the flag, unlike the Total South African team who wound up nearly in Algeria with a Moroccan military escort!

Flag 3 took us through the amazing oasis of M'hamid - we wish we could have stayed (and in fact the South Africans did!). Flag 4 caused a few problems, as it was in between dunes and an ancient river (oued) bed. We met Irina the model who struck a pose on the roof of her 4x4 to
point the direction - no wonder ESPN dropped us like hot beignets! After taking Flag 4 we decided to find the 'road' to go to Chegaga to meet up with everyone to camp for the night. And thus began our (second? third?) journey to the Oued from hell...

In true Moroccoan style, the 'road' we were on just ran out. But we found a few tire trails and thought we were safe. Instead we wound up in the bed of the Draa River. Almost immediately we realised our error. We were surrounded by river banks about 10 meters each side,
the river bed was old caked mud, and apparently this is extremely dangerous and to be avoided at all costs. As darkness descended, and we were driving up and down to find our way out, we began to feel like we were in a scene from a horror film!

Finally 'Rally Boyes' shot the car up the river bank in a cloud of dust and diesel fumes, and we were safe! However the back of the car was a disaster, crates split open, tires on top of bags, and tools everywhere. By this time night had fallen, and never have we been so relieved to see headlights of other Gazelles.

We made camp with Flo and Paula Team 135 and like all good girl guides built a massive bonfire in the desert! Donna made curry and rice for all, and we promptly collapsed into our tents.

The next morning the four of us set out for the dunes at daybreak. After a reprimand from the sheriff for travelling in convoy and a penalty for Team 135 (for following us - who wouldn't want to?) we tackled the dunes together (the sole exception to the no following rule). We found Flag 5x like a dream, there by 8 am. Flag 6x on the extreme route caused a few more problems. The benefit of travelling together in the dunes is that many hands make for lighter work when
there are problems. Within minutes of setting off for 6x, Team 135 needed a tire change, which in the Gazelle spirit of solidarity we sorted out... The favour was soon repaid - we went over the crest of a dune and wound up wedged between camel grass and the back of a dune.

After a few hairy moments - including a nearly catastrophic collission as Flo flew over the dune and almost landed on our 4x4 - we made it to 6x by noon. By this time, the dunes were HOT HOT HOT, the sand was so soft we were sliding all over the pleace, and our were had only 1/4
tank of petrol remaining - and as there were no taxis available to take us to the bivouac - and dreading what was in store, we headed due south to exit the dunes on thankfully what was our easiest drive of the day.

A serious lack of petrol (running out results in 200 penalty points) forced us to head back to the camp - a 100 km drive over tough rocky terrain, almost the whole way with our fuel warning light flashing red! On nothing but fumes we crossed the finish line!

It's Over!

Pictured: Amanda (Team 150 South Africa), Caroline (Team 147), Dalene (Team 150 South Africa), Donna (Team 147)

Marathon Leg 2 - The Memories

Celebrating success in the dunes, with Team 135 (Florence and Paula)

The road we spent a long time looking for... Can you see it? Thought so...

Last post until after the stages finish!

Quote of the day: it's better to be stupid for one day than crap every day!

We redeemed ourselves today by finding 6 flags and experiencing (for the first time all rally) no major problems. However, tomorrow is a dune day (and overnight in the dunes as well) so we fully expect to be back to the land of setbacks...

Highlights today included: lunar landscapes, the Draa Valley oasis, and managing to eat lunch ( a luxury previously unattained)!

Gotta go and have a cold shower!

Best story so far...

Have you heard the story about...

The Gazelles who were lost in the dunes, got out of their car as they saw a light in the distance and decided to walk to it to ask for help, and then lost their car? They stayed in a hotel for the night and went back into the desert in the morning, found their car, and are still in the competition!

It's hard to explain just how much seems to go wrong all the time in the desert (this tale is no one-off) but stories like these keep the spirits high.

NB: Apparently a number of readers have assumed this tale from the desert to be about Team 147. In fact, we shielded the identity of the wayward gazelles out of respect, but to clarify things a bit this was a story about one of our fellow TOTAL teams from Africa...

The day it all went wrong...

Having come 3rd in the prologue and ranking 9th amongst the first timers and rising, yesterday was the end of our great run...

Suffice it to say, we dropped a few points after finding ourselves stuck between a dune and a hard place. Talking of being dropped, we havent seen our friends from ESPN since either...

However we did find ourselves a theme song - Right Said Fred I'm Too Sexy - let's just say the helmet and big sunglasses look is definitely in fashion here in the desert!

A night under the stars

We managed to find two other Total teams after the Oued from hell (see previous blog) and had a super night under the stars.

Martine and Monique provided the jambon bread and wine, Marie and Elodie served rum aperitifs, and we served up Pot Noodle...

Having been tailed by journalists for the past few days, we spent about 30 minutes each being interviewed by ESPN.

Oh - if you want to email please do so (two more days only) to gazelles147@laposte.net - thanks for the support!

The Road Less Travelled

We have discovered that the thin black lines on the map represent roads maintained by Gazelles once a year.

Three days ago our strategy was to follow the roads. Now we know that we are the ones making them!

We did manage to find the roads and got through Oued Ziz (the biggest muddy river bed at the moment in Morocco). 4 Gazelles got stuck up to their car windows and had to be rescued. Our finding the road was a stroke of MAGIC!

The ecstasy of finding the balise!

Pictured: Caroline (Team 147), Pascale (Team 144), Marie (Team 141)

Lunar? Martian? No Moroccan...

Before it went wrong...

A brief note - we are surviving!

It has been a tiring few days. We have experienced a huge sand storm, a hailstorm caused the bivouac to turn into a mudfest, and we spent hours today digging in sand.

Highlights:

• Driving through a herd of camels
• The huge dunes today - Caroline driving Donna guiding
• The birds that hovered by our car all day yesterday
• The great team TOTAL spirit

Lowlights:

• The flat tire we had yesterday
• The early mornings...

Send us notes - Team 147 on the official rally website!

Celebrating Success on the Dunes

The Moroccan Roads

The Prologue

The lowlights -

Getting up at 3.30 am... Oh yeah, and getting stuck in sand 300 metres from the start line, in full view of the press!

The highlights -

• Sunrise in the Atlas Mountains...
• Getting rescued from the dunes by Martine and Monique the team from TOTAL Pau...
• And finally, finding all three flags, finishing in time, and only 2.12 km off the shortest distance!

Let's hope the real stages go as well (sadly today was just practice!)

Good or Bad?

Meknes

We arived at about 9 in the morning on Monday in Tangers, and immediately got lost looking for the TOTAL arrival party. Thanks to our friends at Mobil (does there seem to be a recurring theme here?) we found our way back onto the map!

We don't think we will ever have the same level of attention and service as we had at the TOTAL arival point. At 10 am we were greeted with food, drinks, dancing, and the obligatory press call. We set off at 11 and rocked up to Meknes 5 hours later. We had a few technical
glitches, but nothing that a bit of Tipex couldn't sort out.

Now that everyone is off the Scopoderm, it has become much more social. We have met fellow Gazelles from all over, including Senegal and Quebec.

After a hefty two hour briefing, we all went around the room and introduced ourselves including the number of times we have participated in the rally. 30 percent of the people here have
participated in the rally more than once, including one 12 time participant! The competition is a lot stiffer than anticipated! But we are still confident that we will place first amongst all Total Gas & Power teams...

The Gazelles were welcomed to Morocco by the Minister for Health and Development, who gave the opening speech at the welcome party, which was fantastic kick off to what we hope will be a great few weeks.

Today the TOTAL Gazelles had the earliest start, so any hopes of a last lie in were quashed by the alarm at 5.45... But this was a blessing in disguise as we had the rest of the day to scotch our maps, following the early morning calibration of our odometer and completion of technical and administrative verifications. Castel vineyards was again host to today's preparations, and pepared a fabulous bbq (they are also sponsors of the rally).

At 3 pm we departed en masse - bear in mind with organisers we are about 150 4x4s - and headed into Meknes for a parade. For approximately 2 hours we drove around town, with instructions to ignore all traffic lights and road conventions as the police stopped all traffic for our parade! The entire police force must have been deployed for this, and it seemed like the majority of the town came out to greet us, only marred by a somewhat embarrassing triple stall uphill in the old town. However, our embarrassment was soon replaced by slack-jawed bemusement at how the 6 foot 4 model and fellow gazelle found herself in the front row (surrounded by 5 foot beauties) for the group photo shoot - hmmmm... we wonder why...

As we headed back to the Hotel Dalia, the high point was watching Amanda from Team 150 Total South Africa wave the SA flag out of the window as she and Dalene drove along, and seeing how fast an arm can move when being mobbed by children grabbing at your flag.

Tonight will be a quite night as we have a 3.30 am start to get to Erfoud and begin the rally! We will try to keep this updated - note our mobile phones ae being confiscated tomorrow afternoon!

Just like any other Sunday (NOT!)

We've now been on the ferry for over 24 hours and have been feeling a bit loopy from the 'scopoderm' (seasickness patches only sold in France, with side effects including hallucinations)...

The ferry is full of Gazelles, so we've been busy checking out the competition.

Today we spent about 10 hours preparing our maps for the rally. All 26 have been measured, marked and colour coded. And we still have not yet reinforced them with the scotch tape! We have also been medically cleared, advised on what do in the event of snake/scopion bites (don't
worry Mum and Dad), tutored by navigation experts , have our entry visas, and all in all the ferry has been extremely busy!

Unfortunately the food has not matched London standards. Desperate attempts have been made to work off some of the stodge - you don't often see 5 women drinking water and dancing like idiots in the name of exercise!

Tomorrow we arrive in Tangers and drive to Maknes for briefings and technical checks. Look out Morocco here we come!

To the start!

Yesterday we set off from Paris to Sete - the departure city near
Montpellier in the south of France. It was a fully loaded day - first
to say our goodbyes (and take loads of photos!) at the TOTAL corporate
headquarters, and then about 800 km of driving to the south...

Our highlights included...

• Being treated like celebrities by the photographers / papparazzi in
  front of Tour Coupole
  
• Just missing a ride around the Arc de Triomphe
  
• Driving in convoy - 7 Total cars - to the south, and passing a Total
  tanker and beeping as we went passed
  
• Nearly running out of petrol and being forced to make an emergency
  stop at the Shell garage (how embarrassing with our 4x4 plastered in
  Total stickers)
  
• Losing the convoy and ending up in fog so thick we couldn't see more
  than a foot in front of us, and finding ourselves lost in an
  industrial wasteland
  
• Being pulled over by the police under spurious pretenses, but then
  receiving a personal escort to our hotel

We have spent this morning checking in and 'becoming Gazelles' (along
with a model and a star of the French equivalent of Pop Idol /
American Idol) and are soon about to board our 40 hour ferry to
Morocco.

Hot off the press!

Today Elodie from the Total Lubricants team circulated the following article. It is published in the French Psychology Magazine. The topic is "solidarite" - one of the TOTAL corporate values!

The article notes that the rally will be 70 team (actually it is about 100) who will spend 8 days in the Sahara in Morocco covering 2,500 kilometers (we think this may be more as it probably does not include the drive from Paris to Sete for the ferry). Apparently a psychologist will be accompanying us on the rally! We can't wait to read what he writes!

The bet...

We work on a trading floor - and traders love to bet.

Apparently the latest wager is which of us would triumph if we come to blows during the rally!

We DEFINITELY ARE NOT PLANNING this! Our motto will be to have a cup of tea and relax when the going gets tough. And on that note, we are still waiting for the eBay delivery of the kettle to arrive (inch'allah!)...

Ecoute - Audace - Transversalite - Solidarite

Someone today asked why TOTAL would sponsor an event like the Rallye des Gazelles, and indeed why they would sponsor individual employees to participate in the rally.

This is a good question. The TOTAL corporate values are Ecoute (listening) - Audace (Boldness) - Transversalite (this translation is hard but basically means functioning without silos) - Solidarite (Solidarity - or Team Work - or Mutual Support). The Rallye des Gazelles really embodies these values.

In addition, TOTAL as a Group of companies has embraced diversity and efforts to give opportunities to women in the Group. The rally is a great example of enabling new skills and building confidence for women.

We are just so fortunate to work for a company that gives us such opportunities! And to be able to use the rally as a way to grow individually and gain experiences that we hope will also translate into the workplace environment.

Becoming a Gazelle...

Ouarzazate - where you learn to be a Gazelle...

The tabletop mountain that we grew to love...

The "cheich" - mandatory for any Gazelle...

Caroline and Hameed from Novateam - we love Novateam!

Donna models "the beast" - yes the elbow is fine!

Cat and Claire - the other members of the real first place team!

Line dancing under the stars...

Gaz Gaz Gaz!!

A quick recap of our desert training adventure...

The Dunes -- Sadly we were split up on the dune training day as our 4x4 axel was about to break (nothing to do with us bashing it around the dunes the previous day). All went really well although we seemed to jinx the cars we rode in and spent a lot of time learning how to use the shovel to dig out the tires!

The desert party -- as a farewell to Rissani a big party was thrown for the TOTAL Gazelles in the desert. Highlights included line dancing under the stars, We Are the World with all arms locked and lots of swaying, and the song and dance that greated our slow cooked lamb meal.

The challenge -- we won!! Actually we came in second but that was because we got stuck in the sand for 20 minutes... It was great fun working on the challenge with Cat and Claire. Who would have thought a "balise" (in this case a shovel stuck in the sand) would bring us such pleasure...

The return -- hairpin turns in the pitch dark with cliffs on the right and no guard rails. Enough said... The situation was lightened by some liberal use of the "talky walkies" as the convoy took turns singing their national songs... Not sure if She'll be coming round the mountain andWham! rap qualify as national song, but we did get some positive feedback!

Next step -- buy sleeping bag, tent, etc... About 10 days until departure!! Off to bed now - getting slowly used to the 4 am start times!

From the desert...

This weekend we are in Morocco to learn how to drive in the desert, and also to learn how to navigate (not in a classroom environment). We spent this afternoon on the dunes... For novices we didn't do too badly, although a few swear words and a bit of sweat (and a shovel to help another team) were involved. As we write, it is getting dark, our French instructor is screaming at the team stuck in the dunes (not us) and we are watching night fall and going nowhere fast...

Two weeks and a bit to go...

We have completed a few days of introductory training, named our team, built our blog, found a charity to raise funds for, and are almost ready to go... Thanks to the support of our colleagues and their wizardry with regard to wikipedia searches to help us to understand the French words for "hose clip" we are almost done with our equipment purchasing. This week from Thursday afternoon until the earliest hour on Tuesday we are heading to Ouarzazate for desert driving training - and a bit of map and compass skill building. And then before you know it we will be off to Paris to pick up the Isuzu 4x4, packing up, and setting off on the 14th for the adventure of a lifetime!

From March 14th we are participating in the 2008 Rallye Aicha des Gazelles, which officially sets off from Sete in France to Morocco for two weeks of off road driving and navigational challenge.

Our participation in the 2008 is generously sponsored by Total Gas & Power. To further show our commitment to one of the key aims of the rally - empowerment and skill training for women - we are also using the event as a chance to raise funds for Women for Women International. Women for Women International provides women survivors of war and conflict with the tools and resources they need to rebuild their lives, families and communities. Even a small gift can make a difference: $15 helps a woman in Rwanda start a savings account to fund her own business; $45 teaches a woman in the Democratic Republic of Congo how to read and write; $60 buys 10 health kits for women in Afghanistan - the health kits include bandages and iodine and allow the women to provide their families with basic healthcare; $200 provides a woman in Bosnia and Herzegovina or Afghanistan a micro-credit loan; $250 provides 12 women in Nigeria with rights awareness and leadership training... You can learn more about WfW International by clicking onto their website (link on the right) and of course -show your support for both our participation in the rally as well as for our chosen charity by clicking onto the link on the right.

Thanks to everyone for your support - and remember that with our team number "147" you can check on the official rally website (link to the right) to see our progress during the event. Wish us success in our daily quest for those challenge flags!