The African country of Lesotho welcomed riders on the Roof of Africa enduro rally last weekend, but various mix-ups with the course and marshalling meant that the result was far from a foregone conclusion.
The event has an illustrious 42-year history as one of the toughest enduro races on the world calendar, but temperatures that – fittingly perhaps – reached 42 degrees celsius had some of the riders in such trouble that they were forced to bed down with people in the mountain communities after day two due to exhaustion.
A decision to shorten the course on the final day failed to reach everyone involved, meaning that New Zealander Chris Birch inadvertently missed a marshalling point that should have been manned but wasn’t. After being allowed to restart after discussions with the organisers, Birch ploughed on. It was eventually decided that, with adjusted results – and with pacesetter Andreas Lettenbichler retiring with mechanical gremlins shortly before the end – Birch had won ahead of Rory Mead and Jade Gudzeit. Though behind the pair on the road, Birch had made up almost two hours on the leaders after his earlier wrong turn.
“It was really tough – I’m not as tired as yesterday, but I worked hard today,” commented Birch, who was defending the title he won on ‘the Roof’ last year. “All I could do when I restarted was to focus and ride my absolute best, but I’m very happy to take the trophy home this year.”
Results
1. Chris Birch (New Zealand), KTM
2. Rory Mead (New Zealand), Yamaha
3. Jade Gutzeit (South Africa), BMW
Comments
Add a comment