She left behind her life in the US to race camels in the UAE. Now she’s hoping to inspire other women to follow in her tracks

By Kayla Smith and Jack Bantock, CNN

(CNN) — Straining every fiber to stay atop the 1,000 pound camel churning up sand two meters beneath her as it gallops at over 40 kilometers (24 miles) an hour, Taylor Dees is a long way from Texas.

It’s around 12,700 kilometers (7,890 miles) from her hometown of Moulton to the Saudi Arabian city of Taif, and it takes just two more for her to clinch victory at the Crown Prince Camel Festival’s first ever all-women race.

That was back in August 2023, just one year on from her mounting a camel for the first time. It turns out that Dees — who rode horses frequently as a child — is as fast a learner as she is a rider.

“It really starts with an awareness of animals and awareness of your own body,” she told CNN.

“Once you get into the rhythm and you understand how the animal is moving and how you can move with the animal, it’s quite easy.”

Trailblazer

Dees moved to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2017, after falling in love with the country on vacation. Now living in the capital of Abu Dhabi, the dietician balances her roles as a business owner and mother with that of being a trailblazing figure in her sport.

The racing of dromedaries, a single-humped species also known as the Arabian camel, is a centuries-old passion in the region and endures in both popularity and lucrativeness, with prize money reaching multi-million-dollar figures.

However, it’s a storied history that has been predominantly written by men — until recently.

Dees is one of the many success stories to emerge from the UAE’s Arabian Desert Camel Riding Center (ADCRC), co-founded by German expat Linda Krockenberger.

Krockenberger, who moved to the UAE in 2015, tried for years to find a place to ride, but was frequently turned down on account of her gender. In a 2022 interview she told CNN she recalled once being told “It will be good if you can dress like a boy.”

Krockenberger opened the school in 2021, and she says it received the first ever license for a camel riding center in the country. The ADCRC launched the UAE’s maiden all-women camel racing team — a development that immediately piqued Dees’ interest.

“I think so many times, particularly around animals, women are seen as too fragile or too feminine to be able to be in that environment,” said Dees.

“Yes, we can be more fragile and feminine, but we can also be very strong and very brave and be very physically fit in order to ride camels.”

‘I don’t race to win’

Dees, has raced in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia — including in the ancient city of AlUla — but will be taking a season off from competing with the ADCRC.

Though there are typically one to two months between events, Dees has a rigorous weekly training regime that focuses heavily on endurance. Trots gradually progress to short and then long runs as a way of building stamina and ensuring both camel and rider arrive on race day at peak fitness.

“The outcome of the race is so reliant on the fitness and quality of the camel,” Dees explained.

“Yes, your riding style, form, and ability plays a part but even the best rider will not win on a camel that is less fit than the camel next to it.”

Upon her return next season, Dees will saddle up against other talents that have emerged from the ADCRC, including Krockenberger, Jordan’s Rawan Salah, and French-native Coralie Viroulaud, victor of last season’s all-women C1 Championship.

Yet Dees does not see the trio as rivals. She welcomes the competition, paradoxically because competition is not her primary motivation.

“I don’t race to win,” Dees explained. “I do it because, first and foremost, it’s fun. Second, I want people to see that as women, we are strong, we are confident, and we can do things that maybe men perceive we cannot.

“Each international race is a bit bigger, which I love because it means that there are more women who are willing to step out of their comfort zone and who are willing to step out of this very male-dominated sport and prove that yes — women can not only do it, but we can do it very well, we can do it very safely and we can be successful in it as well.”

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