Author: DAVE FALL

The annual Durban-Johannesburg Reliability Motorcycle Trial takes place this weekend, March 11 to 12, 2011, taking riders from Hillcrest in KwaZulu-Natal all the way to Johannesburg. The catch? All the riders will be astride motorcycles built before 1936...

Clerk of the course Pierre Cronje explained: “The route for this year’s commemorative rally will be similar to the one used last year, with the start in Hillcrest and the finish at the James Hall Transport Museum in La Rochelle, Johannesburg.

“On the first day about 150 riders on bikes and combination outfits built before 1936 will cover 350km from Hillcrest to the traditional overnight stop in Newcastle, and on the Saturday will cover a further 320km on the way to the finish in Johannesburg.”

A definite sign of our economy finally picking up can certainly be detected as this year’s event has attracted more than a dozen sponsors. The race was first run in 1913 and revived as a reliability trial in 1970. There’s no shortage of competitors, it seems, for the two-day event that last year attracted about 120 intrepid motorcyclists.

BACK THEN

Back in 1913, when the first event was run, it took AW McKeag nearly 15 hours to complete the event and cross the line first. How many times he dug his Bradbury machine out of the mud I can only imagine – remember there were no tarred roads, just muddy tracks and fields — and let’s not forget stray cattle, let alone mechanical maladies, that might have caught them out.

Each year, up until 1936, huge interest across the globe focused on South Africa as to who would win the toughest motorcycle race in the world. In 1935 Pietermaritzburg rider RO Hesketh took the honours on his celebrated 250cc Excelsior machine in just under seven hours. The roads hadn’t noticeably improved all that much by then and riders still had to stop, dismount and close those blessed cattle gates behind them!

A halt was finally called to race proceedings in 1936 when due to the nature of the event a competitor was sadly killed, one Jock Leishmann, who perished while crossing the Biggarsberg range near Ladysmith. The event was just too quick for the organisers to safely police the event.

The modern-day DJ Race, as we have come to know it was resurrected in 1970 by the Rand Motor Club and the SA Vintage and Veteran Club in Johannesburg, but taking the form of a far safer regularity or commemorative event. Over the past 41 years the event has drawn competitors from as far as Europe — and this year is no exception.

Again, Pietermaritzburg stalwart rider Hans Coertse will compete on his aged Humber machine — a bike that celebrates its centenary this year. Coertse must also be considered one of the fittest men in the race because he has to once again pedal his Humber up the steeper inclines such as the notoriously-steep Town Hill just outside the Pietermaritzburg's city centre.

• For more information see the website www.djrun.co.za, which contains the full entry list, or contact Pierre Cronje on 072 513 9432.