“I have to do the more than 8,000 km of the Dakar with one hand behind the wheel”
BarcelonaLife can change in a second. A gesture, a movement or a word can turn your life upside down forever. Joan Lascorz (L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, 1985) had to recover from a motorbike accident that caused him severe quadriplegia. “When I had the accident, it was like, ‘My life is here, it’s all over. I just have to live on a couch and I won’t be able to do much,'” he said. Far from throwing in the towel and accepting that his life would be spent on a bed, he decided to fight against the predictions of doctors and has become the first quadriplegic to take part in the Dakar Rally. The toughest test in the motoring world was a dream, and thanks to his tenacity and effort it is now a reality.
In 2012 he marked a before and an after in Joan’s life. While running at the Circuit of Imola (Italy) he collided with a concrete wall at a bend at 230 km / h and his life changed by a few tenths of a second. “I was in my best professional moment, I was superb on the bike. I was at the peak and in a few tenths everything changed. I didn’t lose consciousness and when I opened my eyes I noticed my legs stretched out in front of me, but it turns out “Something was wrong with me. Something was wrong. I was in the hospital, admitted to Guttmann, for six months. When I got home I wasn’t able to go from sofa to chair for two years,” he recalls. He had to reformulate his life.
“The doctors told me that I would have to buy an electric chair to move, but I never had one. I have a normal one and I competed again, which they told me would be impossible,” he said. . John is stubborn, he admits. “When I fight for something I put it between my eyebrows and I don’t stop until I get it. Ten years ago, after the accident, I thought I wanted to run the Dakar. A lot of people told me why I didn’t do a race that was easier, that was more within my reach. Where I didn’t have to depend on more people, “he confesses.
I have to do the more than 8,000 km of the Dakar with one hand ”
But for John, running was not enough. “I wanted to compete, but I wanted to go fast,” he says, recalling the first time he got back on all fours. “My hands are 100% affected, I can’t move them. My fingers don’t work, either. My arms do, but only 35%. I had to find a way to carry the steering wheel, the gas and the brake without being able to grip. In the end, I’ve been creating adaptations for the car so I can compete. If I don’t create them or look for them, if I hope someone does it for me, “I carry the steering wheel with one hand, my left hand. I have to do the more than 8,000 km of the Dakar with one hand. I carry the gas and the brake on my right hand.”
After two years without competing, Joan returns to his boogie. “I’ve never covered as many miles as I will in Dakar. Not even training,” he admits. To get here, however, he had to go through many stages and go through many procedures. The main thing: get the license. “In Spain, no quadriplegic had applied for a license to compete. When I applied for it, they found it very difficult. They give you a test that consists of leaving the car in the event of an emergency in less than a minute. at the Montmeló Circuit and you have to get out of the car as best you can. [riu]. I went down in less than a minute, right? What matters is that you go out, not how. “
The support of friends, key
The economic viability of the project has also been one of the most difficult factors to manage. “It’s an idea of four friends who are very crazy and have financed my Dakar. They have applied for two credits at the age of ten. If it weren’t for them, I would be at home right now without being able to compete.” In addition, to try to raise money and be able to repay the loans, they have opened a platform crowdfunding. They want to get enough money to be able to pay for necessary services in the Dakar, such as an osteopath and the registrations of the people who accompany him on this adventure. “They believe in me a lot, and the idea of Verkami is to be able to cover this project and be able to get back some of the money. There are a lot of people who are helping a lot and sponsors who have joined, but the project is going in the Dakar it’s 250,000 euros. Every person who goes with me to the Dakar pays about 9,000 euros for registration. “
Overcome all previous obstacles, now it’s time to face the test. Facing a Dakar is very complicated and requires a lot of sacrifice. Many kilometers, extreme temperatures and inclement weather can make the journey difficult. Joan, however, suffers mainly from one thing: “The most difficult thing for me will be the temperature. In Arabia in the mornings and at night we are below 0 degrees, and I do not grade the temperature well. I am always at home at about 28 ºC. That’s the only way to stay stable. ”