The Silk Way Rally with Isabelle Patissier
Isabelle Patissier
Born on March 1st 1967 in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon in France, she started climbing at a really young age with her family, and quickly realized that she had talent for this. In addition, she practiced alpine skiing and slalom.
In 1986, she won her first official competition at only 19 years old in Vaulx-en-Velin in France. This victory made her realized that she really wanted to devote her life to sport, and two years later, at only 21 years old, she won her first climbing title of France champion. That same year, she became the first lady to success an 8b trail, which is a very difficult itinerary. After that, her career officially started.
Then she won the World Cup in 1990 and 1991 into the “difficult” category, which is a huge accomplishment in her life. In 1993, she got married with the famous journalist and French writer Nicolas Hulot, and divorced 3 years later. While being the European vice champion in 1994, she decided to stop her professional climbing activities to go back to studies.
She had been part of the French team for 10 years, she won the world championship two times and the French championship four times. She has an impressive background.
And in the 2000s, she starts her second great passion, motorsports. She participated in the Rally des Gazelles, and in the famous Paris -Dakar in 2002, where she became the first woman to win the title in 2004 in the “production” category. In her life, she participated in 11 Paris -Dakar rally and many others around the world (Dubai, Morocco, Tunisia …).
In 2016, Isabelle Patissier comes back and will participate to the Silk Way Rally, which runs from 9 to 24 July from Moscow to Beijing.
Read more here : Isabelle Patissier interview
The Silk Way Rally
The Silk Way Rally is a motor sports competition where participants compete during 10,000 km, passing through most of Eurasia and connecting three capitals: Moscow, Astana and Beijing. For the first time in its history, the Silk Way Rally is a transcontinental event.
The race will take place from July 9th to 24th 2016, which is the date of the awards ceremony in Beijing. It will be divided into 15 stages spread across the three host countries Russia, Kazakhstan and China. Authorized categories are cars and trucks. Participants will have the chance to cross sublime landscapes, from the Russian steppes to the mountainous Chinese roads through the Kazakh plains. They will live a unique experience that they will remember all their lives.
And this rally does not only aim at being a sports event, it also represents an opportunity to strengthen international ties among the participating countries, to complete the development of joint project.
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