VANESSA Ruck, a British motorcycle rider and Bournemouth graduate, has completed the 1000 Dunas Raid in Morocco, making her the first female to ever finish on a standard production large-capacity adventure bike.

Battling dry riverbeds, sand, camel grass, dunes, and long distances over rough terrain every day, Ruck finished the seven-day rally with teammate Aled Price, but it was not all smooth sailing.

“Most people were there on more typical smaller rally bikes. I was part of a very small group of nutters on large motorcycles”, Ruck said.

"The terrain was incredibly challenging at times and recovering a bike over three times your body weight in soft sand presents a real struggle. We had a section of small, uneven dunes covered in camel grass where Aled and I were in full survival mode.

"We got more and more tired, so it was teamwork to recover the bikes until the unthinkable happened, Aled’s clutch burned out. The bike was dead.

"I was left with no choice but to continue through the dunes and remaining 180km day alone."

She added: "As I pulled away, leaving him to be rescued, I knew I was riding for my life. Just one mistake, one drop in the deep sand could be game over.

"My heart was racing and it took every bit of determination, strength and fight to make it through.

"Being alone in a desert on a bike like that... that was brutal, and the heat, and fatigue and fear builds very quickly."

The 1000 Dunas starts in Granada, Spain, takes riders across the Moroccan desert to Merzouga, then loops back to Granada for the finish covering over 1,500km.

It is a seven-day rally that is not timed but is designed to give riders the opportunity to test their roadbook navigation skills, their endurance, and their bikes.

Riders are ranked according to navigation accuracy and whether they finish each stage, and Ruck finished eighth out of 11 Hard Trail finishers.