While watching the documentary
On Any Sunday, which highlights off-road motorcycling in wide-open spaces,
Thierry Sabine, communications officer at Le Touquet town hall, had the idea of bringing the mass-participation enduro races that were very popular in the United States to France. The first running of the event, named the
Enduro des Sables, took place on 16 February 16, 1975 with 286 competitors. The "Touquet" was initially run in two heats. It was the experience and success achieved at the Enduro du Touquet that motivated Thierry Sabine to create the
Paris-Dakar Rally in 1979, based on the same principle of competition open to all. Until 1981, the course of the race called "Enduro des sables" was partly run in the dunes, then following complaints from nature protection associations, the race was run on the beach exclusively. The year 1991, the Gulf War prevented the event from being organized. In 2005, Amaury Sport Organisation, owner of TSO (Thierry Sabine Organisation), withdrew from organizing the race. For two years the French Motorcycling Federation took over organising the event. Frenchman Mickaël Kavaliauskas entered the 2008 event on a
Honda CBR900RR Fireblade modified as a motocross machine. He won the holeshot and was timed at an average speed over along the beach. The competition has become a major event at the European level, with 2,450 competitors (in 2020) and 500,000 visitors. The Enduropale was included in the first World Cup of Sand Racing, organised by the FIM, and was the first round of this World Cup which consisted of three events, with the
Enduro del Verano in Argentina at the end of February and the Monte Gordo Beach Algarve in Portugal, in the town of
Monte Gordo in November. The main race returned to Sunday in 2024. ==Economic benefits==