First all-female British team completes Dakar Rally

A pair of friends have become the first all-female British team to complete the Dakar Rally.

Marcella Kirk, from West Handley in North East Derbyshire, and her friend Helen Tait-Wright, took part in the 8,000km (4,970-mile) race in Saudi Arabia.

Tait-Wright said they had received sponsorship but had also sold lots of their own possessions, including a car and their own jewellery, to raise £114,000 (€130,000) to build a specially-adapted Land Rover and for their expenses during the race.

After finishing 83rd in the Dakar Classic section of the rally on Sunday, the pair said: "We've done it and we're very proud of ourselves."

The vehicle used during the challenge was a specially modified 1988 Land Rover Defender 110 built by Tait-Wright's husband Chris.

It was driven by Tait-Wright, 56 and Kirk, 55, navigated the journey by map reading, as sat-navs were banned.

The rally involved driving over a range of terrains from sand dunes, mud, rocks and dry river beds.

Kirk said they were unsure whether they would finish the rally after two tyres blew at the same time during the final section.

"We thought we'd keep the jeopardy going right to the end of the race, just to sort of keep everybody interested," Kirk joked.

"We only had one section to do, that's all we had to do really, get through it and we managed to blow two tyres at the same time.

"We hit one rock, bounced onto another, I got out and they were flat as pancakes."

Kirk said a German team came along to help them get back on track, but they also ran into the same problem.

"I think they were going to stop and help us but they hit the same rock and blew a tyre too. So we were in a little convoy of blown tyres.

"It was actually a moment when I thought we're not going to make it to the finish," she said.

Luckily, the Germans had large equipment so they could change the Land Rover's tyres and helped make sure Kirk and Tait-Wright were on the final stretch to the finish line.

"They helped us get back on our way, we set off but we still had 80 kilometres to do without any spares.

"The worry was then if we blew another tyre, that was it. That was our Dakar over."

However, the pair managed to get to the end without further issues despite not having spare tyres and the "steering being out".

"A lot of people thought we wouldn't get here.

"It's been awesome, all the support has just been out of this world.

"All the messages kept us going and it gave us a big push to the end," said Kirk.

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