TRAVELLING 1,000km through desert terrain has earned an Oxford woman first place in the gruelling Tuareg Rally Women's Championship.

Motorcyclist Tamsin Jones, 34, travelled from Spain to Erg Chebbi at the top of the Sahara Desert - and did it the fastest time for a woman.

Miss Jones, manager of Oxford's Trax project in Ferry Hinksey Road, which gives youngsters the chance to get experience in mechanics, vehicle maintenance and driving, was one of 40 British people who competed in the race.

And one of the biggest challenges was getting to grips with the 'road book' which gives directions.

She said: "We spent three days in the sand dunes. It is like orienteering and the road book takes a couple of days to get used to.

"You want to go fast, but it is all about navigating and keeping your head.

"Every day is an adventure - you ride along and come across a herd of camels and anything could happen. It is physically and mentally testing. You have to be quite fit as well.

"Sometimes you are out there riding for eight hours and the countryside is fantastic, you don't get to see places like this normally."

At the end of each day competitors checked their times for different stages of the race.

Miss Jones came first for having the best overall time out of all the women taking part.

She said: "It was fantastic, I won it by two minutes.

"It is a really long race and you get to the end and feel quite exhausted and there is a big party at the end."

Miss Jones said she saw the event as training for the gruelling Dakar Rally, which covers 9,000km, from Portugal to west Africa. She hopes to enter the rally in 2009.