Two lawyers at the Rallye
TEAM 175
Sophie and Julia met at law school in Orléans 18 years ago and worked together 6 years ago. Julia had the idea of taking part in the Rallye after reading an interview with Adriana Karembeu after her last Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc.
The complete unknown
“The idea stayed in the back of my mind. I like to do ‘guy’ things. Last year my boss did a car rally and it looked really interesting. I talked to my assistant about it, and she signed me up for the Rallye’s information meeting. I was stoked after the meeting. It was a Eureka moment! I invited a friend to do it with me; after two weeks she decided that it wasn’t for her. Sophie thought about it for 48 hours and then said yes.
Sophie had absolutely no idea what to expect. “My job is extremely demanding, and I wanted to do something just for me. I want to really push my limits with this rally. It’s a big challenge and I liked the fact that it was the complete unknown. And I wanted to do it with Julia.” Since they work on the same street, it was easy to prepare for the Rallye together. In spite of that, the preparation was very demanding. “We were lucky, we found some big sponsors. But you can crack if that’s not the case. There are lots of things to think about. For example, it’s silly, but we had never been camping before.”
The palm grove team
At the mid-point of the Rallye, the team analyzes their experience: “I didn’t think it was so rigorous, so competitive, but that hasn’t affected our enjoyment. We haven’t even cried”.” The Rallye provides a different type of stress than their jobs as lawyers. “After you have studied for 7 years and worked in your field for 10 years, you have certain habits.”
During Leg 2, they decided to sleep out in the desert. “It was late and we didn’t want drive back in the dark. We set up in a palm grove and the rally HQ called us to say we couldn’t stay there. It was an unknown zone and not safe enough. So we headed for the bivouac. 500 metres before we got there, the car fell in a hole. Stuck. Since that time, we’ve been known as the palm grove team.”
“Every day is completely different. Every day we find ourselves in unlikely situations, we have fun. We’re here to move forward and to experience things together.”
