The Rallye, an essential “breath of fresh air”

With 14 participations under her belt, Catherine, of Team 21 (Catherine KERAMIDAS / Hélène LEMAITRE)is one of the Rallye “old-timers”. Yet she has the same passion and joie de vivre as ever when we catch up with her at Monday’s administrative, technical and medical verifications in Erfoud. This year, Catherine has teamed up with Hélène, her “friend of thirty years”, which is rather symbolic given that this is the event’s 30th anniversary. “I’ve been asking her to do the Rallye with me for twenty years, and she finally said yes”, enthuses the Gazelle.

Catherine keeps coming back because “the Rallye is a unique moment in the year when everything depends entirely on you. You’re cut off from everything: telephones, professional obligations… It’s a great feeling. For me, it’s my breath of fresh air for the year, and I’ve really missed it!” she says. For Hélène, the postponement proved to be a blessing: “I took advantage of the extra eighteen months to master the quad”.

Will those eighteen months get the two Gazelles to a podium finish in this 30th edition?! That is the objective of Catherine and Hélène, who acknowledge: “It won’t be easy, because there are some heavyweights in this category.” Quad/SSV Class is a rather intimate category, with less than two dozen teams. “We’ll have to fight, but we have good machines”, says Catherine, before adding: “But Betty (Team 39 (Betty KRAFT / Sonia BAUDOIN-GUERARD)) is still the boss. She taught us everything we know.”