| L'Enduropale in 2022 | |
| Sport | Motorcycle beach racing |
|---|---|
| Round of | Championnat de France des sables FIM Sand Races World Championship |
| Location | Le Touquet-Paris-Plage Stella-Plage Pas-de-Calais France |
| Race distance | 15 km (9.3 mi) [1] |
| First run | 1975 |
| Former names |
|
| Participants | 2,761 including 54 women [2] 1,308 in the main event (2024) [3] |
| Spectators | 600,000 [2] [4] [5] |
| Website | www |
| Winners | |
| 2026 winner (men) | |
| 2026 winner (women) | |
| Most wins (men) | |
| Most wins (women) | |
The Enduropale, or Enduropale du Touquet Pas-de-Calais (called Enduro des Sables in its first year and Enduro du Touquet until 2005), is a motorcycle race held annually since 1975 at the beginning of the year on the Opal Coast on the beaches of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage and Stella-Plage in the Pas-de-Calais region. It has now become the largest enduro race in Europe and the longest sand race in the world at 15km. It is the finale of the French Sand Racing Championship (Championnat de France des sables) (CFS).
Since 2023 the Enduropale has been a round of the Sand Races World Championship, organized by the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM), which was inaugurated in that year,
For the 50th anniversary in 2025, the circuit for the main event was extended from 13 to 15 km (9.3 mi). [1]
While watching the documentary On Any Sunday , which highlights off-road motorcycling in wide-open spaces, Thierry Sabine, communications officer at Le Touquet town hall, had the idea of bringing the mass-participation enduro races that were very popular in the United States to France. [6] [7] [8] The first running of the event, named the Enduro des Sables, took place on 16 February 16, 1975 [9] with 286 competitors. The "Touquet" was initially run in two heats. It was the experience and success achieved at the Enduro du Touquet that motivated Thierry Sabine to create the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1979, based on the same principle of competition open to all.
Until 1981, the course of the race called "Enduro des sables" was partly run in the dunes, then following complaints from nature protection associations, the race was run on the beach exclusively. [a]
The year 1991, the Gulf War prevented the event from being organized.
In 2005, Amaury Sport Organisation, owner of TSO (Thierry Sabine Organisation), withdrew from organizing the race. For two years the French Motorcycling Federation took over organising the event. [11]
The competition has become a major event at the European level, with 2,450 competitors (in 2020) and 500,000 visitors. [4]
The 2021 event was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2022 event, initially scheduled for the 28-30 January, was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic to 25-27 February.
In 2023, the premier motorcycle event, the Enduropale, took place for the first time on Saturday instead of Sunday, the usual day since 1975 due to the time of high tide. [12] The Enduropale was included in the first World Cup of Sand Racing , organised by the FIM, and was the first round of this World Cup which consisted of three events, with the Enduro del Verano in Argentina [b] at the end of February and the Monte Gordo Beach Algarve in Portugal , in the town of Monte Gordo in November. [13] The main race returned to Sunday in 2024. [14]
As the event is free, the municipality's revenue comes from partnerships (32 in 2022), fees for street vendors and an of entry fee of €300 per participant.
For the 2022 event, the municipality of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage estimated the economic impact, at the local and regional level, at €6.3 million, of which €4.8 million is for the organizing municipality. The occupancy rate of the town's hotels (1,100 rooms) is 100% during the three days of the Enduropale. [4]