Winner of the MAX Award (Motorcycle Award of Excellence)

In this adventure motorsports memoir, the first Canadian motorcycle racer to complete the infamous Paris–Dakar Rally recounts his incredible journey

The Paris–Dakar Rally is without question the most arduous and notorious off-road motorsports event on the planet. Since its inception in 1979, it has attracted more than three thousand adventurers from all walks of life. The men and women who have taken up the “Dakar challenge” have at least one thing in common: a desire to measure themselves against the desolate sands of the Sahara.

In 2001, Canadian adventure racer Lawrence Hacking entered what would be the last rally on the iconic route from Paris to Dakar. In To Dakar and Back, Hacking, in collaboration with motorsport journalist Wil De Clercq, recounts the three weeks of blood, sweat, and tears that took him on that ten thousand kilometer journey in the heat of competition from the glitzy streets of the French capital through the hinterland of North Western Africa and the triumph of self-realization.

Lawrence Hacking's profile page

Wil Clercq's profile page

• Winner, MAX Award (Motorcycle Award of Excellence)

Lawrence Hacking is a professional motorcycle racer who specializes in enduros and rally raids, and who in 2001 became the first Canadian to finish the race. His remarkable core philosophy, honed from the trials and tribulations of life, helped him survive and succeed in the unforgiving desert. Wil De Clercq has worked as a freelance writer, a visual artist, and in such diverse fields as demolition, the merchant marines, faux finish painting, advertising copywriting, and film and television production.