{"id":720874,"date":"2026-06-07T11:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T11:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/720874\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T11:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T11:08:14","slug":"finke-desert-race-2026-death-rider-dies-in-anniversary-edition-of-famed-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/720874\/","title":{"rendered":"Finke Desert Race 2026 death: Rider dies in anniversary edition of famed race"},"content":{"rendered":"

A motorcycle rider has died during the first day of a desert race deep in the heart of the Northern Territory<\/a> outback.<\/p>\n

Police said the competitor crashed<\/a> about 12.40pm (1.10pm AEST) today on the first leg of the Finke Desert Race from Alice Springs to Aputula, formerly known as Finke.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A motorcycle rider has died during the first day of the Finke Desert Race.\u00a0Fink Desert Race\/YouTube<\/p>\n

Emergency services performed CPR to try to save the rider but he passed away at the scene and police opened an investigation.<\/p>\n

Organisers said he died on the first half of the route,\u00a0adding support was being provided at both ends of the trail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe committee are deeply saddened by this loss and extend their deepest sympathies and condolences to the rider\u2019s family and friends,\u201d it said in a statement, read out on a live broadcast of the event by commentator Riana Crehan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ask all to respect the privacy of the family, friends and those who have been impacted by this incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate the efforts of all emergency services, first respondents, officials and volunteers.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is the 50th anniversary of the race, which features multiple different vehicle classes and organisers call \u201cone of the most difficult off road courses in one of the most remote places in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Police officers declared a crime scene and handed over the investigation to major crash investigators.<\/p>\n

Finke Desert Race NT Police Commander Michael Budge said it was a tragic situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur thoughts are with the rider\u2019s family, friends and all involved with the event at this difficult time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A report will be prepared for the coroner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A motorcycle rider has died during the first day of a desert race deep in the heart of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-720874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}