１月１７日（月曜日）２０２２
ダカール・ラリーという競技大会をご存知ですか。世界一過酷と言われるモータースポーツの競技です。元々はパリを出発して集落や救護施設のほとんどないサハラ砂漠を約２週間かけて縦断しセネガルのダカールを終着点とする、俗に「パリダカ」と言われるレースでしたが、危険なルートを猛スピードで車両のトラブルなく進むことは極めて難しく出場者の半分以上が途中で脱落し完走が難しいと言われていました。死者が出ることも頻繁だったとか。現在ルートはアフリカから南米、中東に変わったそうですが、このパリダカに２輪と４輪で三度も出場しすべて完走した人物が毎年多賀に現れます。
山田周生さん。プロの写真家としてダカールラリーをはじめ様々な冒険レース、アウトドアスポーツを取材撮影、世界中の砂漠を駆け抜け、自身が製作したBDF精製機を搭載した車（VASCO-5) で地球一周を果たし、東北大震災後は被災地支援活動に専念し、現在は有機農業、未来循環型地域づくりの活動、と簡単にはその人物を語ることができません。
バイクにもサハラ砂漠にも無縁な私ですが、パリダカや３０回もサハラ砂漠を走り抜けた経験には興味津々。今回周生さんにはその辺りに焦点を絞って素晴らしい写真を見ながら話していただきます。
バイク好きの方、サハラ砂漠に興味のある方、多賀あさひやに集合です！
Do you know about Paris-Dakar Rally? It's a motor race which people say is the toughest in the world. Originally participants started in Paris and went through the Sahara desert where you will probably not see a village and a first-aid facility shelter for about two weeks and finish at Dakar in Senegal in Africa. Driving through the dangerous route at a tremendous speed without any maintenance makes travel very difficult. More than half of the participants retire in the middle of the race. It was not a rare case that a racer was killed in an accident. Now, the route changed to South America and the Middle East from Africa because of various reasons. Well, I know a person who participated in the Paris-Dakar Rally three times (two motorcycles and one four-wheel vehicle) and he completed all of them.
He is Shusei Yamada. He is a professional photographer who took pictures and reported the Dakar Rally, other adventure races and outdoor sports. He solo-traveled all deserts on earth. He also challenged himself to drive around the world with his VASCO-5 which is a BDF car and successfully completed it. After the Great East Japan Earthquake, he did disaster area support in Iwate prefecture and has been actively working on environmental problems and energy issues.
Although I am a person who lived without any connection to motorcycles and the Sahara Desert, I am very much interested in his experience of the Pari-Dakar Rally and the fact that he traveled the Sahara Desert more than thirty times. This time, I asked him to talk about his experiences.
I hope people who love riding motorcycles or who are interested in the Sahara Desert can come to his talk!
