BROUWER Arjan NLD 10/03/1957 190 cm 105 kg

LEKKERKERKER Leendert NLD 22/01/1955

Vehicle

MODEL	MAKE
BUGGY	HONDA

RANKING

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Scratch	56	109	102	121	-	60	-	56	38	48	-	63	47	75
Stage	56	109	102	121	124	58	107	56	37	47	-	62	47	75	-	-
Overall	56	100	100	104	110	96	97	41	72	60	-	62	58	57	-	-

Arjan Brouwer: “I’m the last of the Mohicans!”

The life of Arjan Brouwer is intimately linked to the Dakar. It was on the race that he lived his strongest emotions, the most terrifying ones, the saddest and the most joyful. In 1986, for his first Dakar, the young biker, 29 years of age at the time, got lost for four days in the desert. Without food or drink, he survived. “I wore all my clothes including my helmet to protect myself from the sun”, he explains today. “I just had a little water left that I would put in my mouth before spitting it back in a bottle. I wrote huge signs in the sand. Thierry Sabine in his helicopter eventually found me, he kissed me with joy. Four days later, he died. I just couldn’t believe It”. That’s for the fright and the pain. And for happiness… “My wife is from Senegal, I met her at Dakar. We got married in 2005. I’m beginning to learn her language…’’ On the race, even if he’s only 51 years old, Arjen feels a bit like “the last of the Mohicans”. But this year will probably be a lot different compared to the others. Indeed a new challenge awaits this bike fanatic: the Dakar in a buggy. “I have a hip prosthesis which prevents me from riding a bike”, explains the Dutchman. “But the sensations in a buggy are similar to those on two wheels…” Leendert Lekkerkerker, a friend for ten years now and a newcomer on the Dakar will be alongside him. From the start all the way to the finish in Buenos Aires, the crew will apply the strategy used by Arjan throughout the years: “To never give everything, always keep energy. Start at 70% and finish at 80% if everything goes well…”

Dakar start photos on line: www.maindruphoto.com

»