An Oxford woman is poised to head to the Sahara desert to prepare for one of the most dangerous endurance races in the world.

Tamsin Jones, 35, manager of motor project TRAX, which is based in Osney Mead, is heading to Africa for three weeks to prepare for the 2009 Dakar Rally.

The annual event is an off-road endurance race across 6,000km of tough terrain from Lisbon in Portugal, to Dakar in Senegal.

Miss Jones, of Gladstone Road in Headington, will also be meeting the 2008 Dakar entrants in Mauritania before heading to Timbuktu in Mali. She said: "It is said that the hardest riding in the Dakar is in Mauritania. The sand is deeper there than in other parts of the Sahara and the camel grass is really difficult to ride. This is a fantastic opportunity to experience what I will be up against in 2009."

Next year, Miss Jones will become only the second British woman to compete in the race.

For the Dakar Rally, people are able to compete on motorcycles or in cars and trucks. The race is considered the most dangerous in the world, claiming more than 40 lives in its 27-year history.