Emirati motocross champion leaves tracks in the desert

It was a weekend only motocross champ Mohammed Balooshi could pull off.

Just weeks after his victory in the Arab MX Motocross Championship held in Tunisia, the Emirati Red Bull rider carried out a 24-hour training camp for seven Arab riders in the desert. In Balooshi’s adrenaline-induced world, sands are meant to be dominated.

The project, aptly named ‘Under My Wing’, gave amateur riders the chance to participate in the workshop with the the 31-year-old athlete who has been racing for more than a decade. The camp was meant to give young riders the chance to hone their skills in unfamiliar environments.

The journey began at sunrise near the Al Aweer Military Camp where the MX Arab Champion gave his instructions and directions to the riders, all of whom had never ridden in the desert before. Eager to discover the new terrain, they all followed Balooshi’s trail as he drew the track 15km into the desert.

After a short pause in the Al Maliha region, Balooshi led his team to a second intensive two-hour training tour on an even more tricky terrain.

“This desert site might be well known but has never been reached by tires,” Balooshi said atop a sand dune. “This is what’s difficult about this training camp.”

At dusk, and after crossing over 85 km, the exhausted riders rode back to their initial station, where their mentor evaluated each one of them individually.

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