“I keep telling myself: remember to have fun”
En bref
- Nathan Rafferty is preparing for his second appearance at the Dakar in 2026, having come 50th on his debut in 2019.
- The 54-year-old American grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and his first love was skiing. After attending college (“a party school”) in Arizona, in 1994 he started working as an unpaid intern at Ski Utah, which promotes the state's 15 ski and snowboard resorts. He worked his way up the ladder, from receptionist to public relations manager, and has now been the association's President & CEO for 20 years!
- Nathan developed a passion for motorbikes later in life, notably inspired by the Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman documentary series Long Way Round. He did the Merzouga Rally in 2012 and gradually built up to the Africa Eco Race in 2018, where he took a hugely impressive sixth place. His maiden Dakar in Peru followed in 2019.
- The father-of-three has previously drawn parallels between skiing and offroad riding, saying there are many similarities between snow powder and sand dunes. He will be doing Dakar 2026 with the cosmopolitan BAS World KTM Team, who have entered no fewer than 10 bike riders from nine different countries: Chile, Czech Republic, France, Guatemala, Mongolia, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa and the USA.
Ambition
N.R.: “The Dakar is the pinnacle of motorsport endurance events. Why am I doing the Dakar again? Well, I once heard someone say, every now and then you need to take inventory of yourself. And I guess I'm just ready to take inventory again. The real answer is: why wouldn't I? My passion for bikes is so strong because it came late. I didn't grow up on a bike. I didn't even own one until I was 30. I watched 'Long Way Round' and I was like, that's for me. I'd caught glimpses of the Dakar and thought, that's the coolest thing ever. Tearing through a dry lakebed in Africa at 100 miles per hour. But I'm not one of these people who says, 'that's cool' and never engages. I was like, how am I gonna do that? I've gotta do that! The rally bug kind of bites you. When I show up to these things now, it's kind of like a Bizarro World with a whole different set of friends. Nobody knows about my real life back home, there's no connection to Utah. I sometimes joke that the ski world is my wife and the motorcycle world is my mistress! I have this international set of friends, with guys like Bradley Cox, Skyler Howes, Bart van der Velden and the team at BAS.
There's a lot that comes with Dakar. Such a big spectacle comes with so much pressure. I love the dunes. If it were up to me, we'd have sand dunes on every stage. I don't do so well on the gravel and fast WRC stuff, I'm better when it's technical. The physical side is hard, but not as hard as the mental side. My first objective is survival. At every event now I keep telling myself: remember to have fun. The day-to-day grind can consume you. But if you're lucky enough to compete at the Dakar, you have to appreciate it. I'll try to take some joy in a Saudi sunrise. But I've finished the Dakar before, I've finished the Africa Eco Race, I've got those medals. Hopefully that means a bit less pressure and a bit more fun. In 2019 my goal was to be in the top third, and I was pretty much bang on that number in 50th. I don't really have a number in mind this time. The level has increased since 2019, and again, I think a finish is going to be a win. I tend to do fine by just holding on and being super consistent."
