Picturesque Montague in the Western Cape played host to the 2018 BMW Motorrad SA GS Trophy, with close to 700 attendees taking over the quiet town as prelude to the South African team departing to Mongolia to participate in the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy Central Asia 2018.
The regional GS Trophy event of this year boasted an array of routes catering to all adventure riding enthusiasts, with some hailing from as far as Turkey, Germany, and the Netherlands.
The 2018 event aimed to introduce riders from BMW-clubs across the country to the exquisite landscapes and scenery of the region, through a mix of tar, gravel, and true off-road routes, and riders were also encouraged to enter the skills challenge. A series of obstacle courses were set up in soft sand, and as the competition progressed, they were altered daily, and the difficulty levels adjusted.
Those regional teams previously selected and those who were up for a spot in the wildcard team were presented with a series of challenges to complete in a race against the clock (and the other teams). The overall winners were announced after a thrilling session that saw the men’s team from the Inland region, Carl-Reinhardt Cronje, Dalton de Bruin, and Roelof Schutte, top the points table, while the ladies’ winning team comprised Antoinette Janse van Rensburg, Charine van Niekerk, and Lezanne Truter.
The annual GS Trophy has been run since 2004, when it attracted an entry field of 98 participants. The winners of the 2018 Skills Challenge have gained automatic entry into the 2019 event to determine who will represent Team South Africa at the 2020 international GS Trophy event. The 2018 men’s Team South Africa, together with the two South African ladies that form part of the EurAfrica team (including one French entrant), were also in Montagu to complete a number of training rides, assist the Skills Challenge participants, and receive their official send-off from BMW Motorrad SA.
The team have already departed to Mongolia to participate in the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy Central Asia 2018 this month. The gruelling event will require riders and their teams to cover close to 4,000 km of the most challenging terrain of the Asian country in just eight days. Their journey will be documented on Facebook using the GS Trophy – Team South Africa page. For more information visit www.gstrophy.com.
– Paul van Gass
