Did you know that the Canary Islands participated as a country in one of the most legendary sports competitions?

 

Many will not remember or some will not even know the history, but the Canary Islands came to compete internationally as a country. He did it in nothing more and nothing less than in the race considered “the greatest adventure in history”, the Camel Trophy.

 

The Camel Trophy was a car competition where expeditions from several countries entered jungles, lush forests and all kinds of complicated ecosystems with different Land Rover models (although the most iconic was the Defender) fully equipped for the off-road adventure with elements such as shock absorbers. hydraulics, top rack, winch or snorkel.

 

The rally began under the motto “As slow as you can, as fast as you have to” and held its first edition in the Amazon jungle, where three teams made up entirely of Germans spent 12 days to cover 14.000 kilometers with Jeep CJ6s, used only in the first edition and that they arrived quite battered after the journey.

 

 

The success of this peculiar adventure caught the attention of Land Rover, which entered as a supplier of the test and, together with RJ Reynolds Tabacco (tobacco company that owns Camel), gave the green light to continue holding the test and give it an international character with the participation of expeditions from the United States, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany.

 

However, it would not be until the sixth edition, held on the island of Borneo, when the Canary flag would appear in the competition. After the appearance of the Spanish expedition two years earlier, in the edition held in Zaire (current Democratic Republic of the Congo), the Canary Islands entered together with Brazil and Japan as new participants in the test with their own flag and with a duo formed by Fernando Rebull and José Antonio Reyes.

 

From then on, the Canary Islands became one of the permanent teams of the event, continuously attending all the Camel Trophy events held until 2000, where the last event was held on the islands of Tonga and Samoa.

 

 

Although the Canarian expedition never won the test, they did win the “Camel Spirit” award, an award chosen by the participants themselves to reward the expedition that showed the greatest sense of team during the journey. In total, the Canarian expedition won this prize on two occasions; in 1990 with the duo Carlos Barreto - Fernando Martín and in 1993 with Ellis Martín - Francisco Zárate. 

 

The turn of the millennium meant that both Land Rover and Camel (after a change of ownership) put aside the test and focused on other areas and disciplines to promote their brands. However, the Camel Trophy left for posterity images such as that of a Land Rover devoured by flames during one of the tests or the mythical image of the 1985 edition (the first in which the Canary Islands participated) in which it is seen as A helicopter loaded the convoy of vehicles due to the difficulties that the expeditions were facing during the journey.

 

As a curious note, just a few months ago the Land Rover used by the 1996 Canarian expedition, formed by Adolfo Suanzes and Belén de la Fuente, was auctioned for around 60.000 euros. The vehicle, with “only” 150.000 kilometers behind it, had all the Land Rover equipment fitted to the cars participating in the test, such as the adapted bumpers or the Terratrix rally computer.

 

Although more than two decades have passed since the Camel Trophy said goodbye, the “greatest adventure in history” continues to be fondly remembered among motorsport and adventure lovers, especially in the Canary Islands.