Two ladies from Quebec have successfully completed the six-day Trophée Roses des Sables rally through Morocco, riding BMW Motorrad's G 450 X sport enduro. Out of more than 100 participants making up 54 teams of 4x4 vehicles and buggies, they were the only two motorcycle entrants, yet managed to finish in a fantastic 27th place overall.

The Trophée Roses des Sables rally is a women only event that takes place in Morocco and is based on the pure tradition of an African rally. The objective is to navigate the daily stages with the aid of a road-book and compass. During the rally, participants encounter a wide variety of north African terrain, from lava beds to sand dunes to water crossings, as well as having to endure an extremely challenging final two day 'marathon' ride - a solo ride in the dunes with only a sleeping bag and some food for company.

BMW Motorrad Canada provided two new G 450 X machines to Chantal Cournoyer and Stephanie Chagnon. Chantal is a marketing and event specialist at the Moto Internationale BMW Motorrad dealership in Montreal, while Stephanie, who is currently self-employed, is a former helicopter pilot and mechanic.

The two intrepid riders lined up in the Moroccan desert for the start of the 8th edition of the Trophée Roses des Sables on completely standard G 450 X machines. Road-book and compass in hand, the Canadian ladies attacked the dunes of Merzouga during the very first stage of the rally and then encountered all types of terrain - including rocks, sand and mud - during the navigation stages through the amazing desert landscape.

The pair encountered extreme weather conditions, including two hailstorms that had been unheard of for more than 40 years in the area. Furthermore, heavy rains had caused the oueds (dry river beds) to overflow out of control and Chantal and Stephanie were forced to ride and push their bikes for up to five hours at times against heavy currents - submerged up to the waist. In fact, due to the bad weather, many of the tracks became impassable and the rally had to then be cut to four days from the original six.

A big part of the rally was the marathon event, where Chantal and Stephanie rode their BMW G 450 X enduros into the big open spaces of the desert through the Atlas Mountains for two days and nights of solo adventure. With back packs loaded to the max, the two girls faced 12 to 15 hour days which pushed them both to dig deep to find the energy required to get through those long stages.

The final 50 km of the rally was completed in total darkness across steep, rocky, mountainous terrain and through areas described in the road-book as 'trial sections'.  Completely exhausted and drained, after 15 hours non-stop on their bikes, the two motorcyclists passed through the finish line at 21:25 to realise their dream and prove to themselves that anything is possible if you put your mind to it and are prepared to take a few risks.

This rally was Chantal and Stephanie's first but definitely will not be their last, as Stephanie Chagnon confirmed: "We were exhausted but happy and proud to say that we were the first women to accomplish this challenge on motorbikes. Motorcycling is a way of life for us and we'll certainly look forward to facing more challenges like this in the future." 

This was a view that was shared by Chantal Courneyer, who was delighted to finish in 27th place out of more than 100 participants and particularly praised the performance of their G 450 X sport enduros.

"We were so pleased with how the bikes performed in Morocco, even when we had to ride for up to six hours in water that was at times over the hips! Afterwards, we just changed the air filter and that's was all we had to do. Prior to the rally, Stephanie and I prepared the bikes with our chief mechanic and while we were out in Morocco, we did everything ourselves. Stephanie has a good background as a mechanic but because the bikes were not ours, we didn't modify anything except adding two road-book holders. That said, the bikes coped with all the conditions amazingly well, and there were no problems riding either in the sand, on the rocks or in the water."

After such an arduous first rally, one might be inclined to think that the girls would stay away from motorcycles for a while, but this couldn't be further from the truth. After the rally, Stephanie and Chantal journeyed to Germany for two days of training at BMW's enduro park. Talk about Unstoppable…