The 41st Faro International Motorcycle Rally starts on Thursday in Portugal’s Algarve region, with the expectation that 15,000 registered people with turn up, after to a reduction in the camping area imposed by the authorities, said the president of the Motoclube de Faro, José Amaro.
Amaro told Lusa that “the expectation is always great” regarding the Faro event, which lasts until Sunday, and explained that this year organisers Motoclube de Faro, with the support of the local council, was “forced by the entities to reduce the camping space a little” for environmental reasons.
“We had to do this for 15,000 registrations but, in any case, we hope it will be a good concentration, as in previous years,” he said.
Amaro explained that the limitations were imposed due to the need to protect a line of dunes in an area that is part of the Ria Formosa Natural Park, but that organisers disagree with the decision.
“It belongs to the park and it was [imposed] on the assumption of defending the dunes,” he explained. “Now, in that place where they prohibit camping there are absolutely no dunes, there is nothing there to protect and, if there was anything, we would protect it, as we have always protected it, and as we have always cleaned that land over these forty years.”
The Motoclube de Faro president added that if it was not for the event organisers clearing the plot in Vale das Almas, between Faro airport and the local beach, the area “would be completely abandoned” and conditions there would be worse than they are now with the gathering taking over the area.
The total of 15,000 registered participants is expected to be reached over the four days of the event.
Since Wednesday, “many people have already arrived” and registrations are “running normally, as in previous years” -after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic and another with restrictions due to the high risk of fire in July 2022, which constrained the holding of a range of local events.
“It is a return to normality also due to the contingency of the fifteen thousand registrations,” said Amaro. “Yesterday many of the people arrived in advance, but all the staff who are there have given a positive response to everyone who arrives.”
Regarding the event roster, the representative preferred not to cite the names of bands, but assured there would be “good performances, both on the main stage and on the Oasis stage” – which he described as “two already legendary venues” of the event.
In downtown Faro “there will be bands playing for the population” on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, he promised.
Amaro also warned all participants, residents and visitors to the Algarve to be careful on the road and avoid accidents while travelling to the venue and within the region.
“The appeal I make, and which is always made every year, due to the amount of motorbikes that are circulating on the road to Faro, whether from Portugal or abroad, is to be as careful as possible,” he emphasised. “At the end of the rally, if it goes well, one of the main parts is that there are no accidents.”