The Singleton-based parents of Dakar Rally winner Toby sat at home watching their son claim the world’s toughest endurance motor sport event in the early hours of Sunday morning and they are still riding the high.

“It’s like a fairy tale,” John said.

“It’s hard to believe it has actually happened, we’re just over the moon.

“We haven’t even been to sleep yet because we sat up all night watching the updates online until he got the win and then we were too pumped up to go to bed.”

Toby’s mother and father had company on the 13th and final stage of an incredible journey, where the 28-year-old from Aberglassyln became the first Australian to conquer the prestigious race.

Toby’s older brother Matthew and his wife Kelsey, also from Singleton, were together seeing history transpiring on the other side of the globe in Argentina.

“The timed section finished about 1.30 in the morning and they still had to ride a transit section to the finish line, but organisers declared Toby the winner early,” John said.

“That’s when we knew and it was a bit emotional. It was like, you beauty he’s actually done it, relief to know he was safe and then a bit of a celebration afterwards.

“I didn’t even have a beer, I went straight for the scotch.”

Toby’s victory was the culmination of a lifetime on two wheels, which started almost three decades ago in the NSW central west town of Hillston where Price was born. 

“His first bike was a hand-me-down from his older brother, a little Pee Wee 50, and he was about two-and-half years old,” John said.

“To our surprise he was remarkably quick and it became his life. He lived to ride every day.

“It has all snowballed from there.”

Toby’s ability on the bike also prompted a move for the Price family to Singleton after he scored a factory team deal at the age of 16.

Not long after that he broke a femur and his dream of a motocross career was falling away with sponsors hard to come by, but in 2006 he was thrown a life line to ride endurance.

“He fell in love with it,” John said.

“That led to desert racing, that led him to Dakar and now he has ticked that box as the best rider in the world.”

A spinal injury from a race fall in the US in April, 2013, couldn’t stop Toby’s rise to the top either.

“I think a lot of other people would have struggled to come back from that, but it just made him more determined,” John said.

“He just wanted it more, learnt from his mistakes and then got back out there.”