Picturesque Montague in the Western Cape this year played host to the 2018 GS Trophy, which saw more than 700 attendees take over the quiet town from 9 to 13 May.
There was an array of routes to cater to all adventure riding enthusiasts, with some hailing from as far as Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands.
While this year’s event aimed to introduce riders from BMW clubs across the country to some of the regions exquisite landscapes and scenery, through a mix of tar, gravel and true off-road routes, riders were also encouraged to enter the skills challenge.
Brothers and sisters in arms
A series of obstacle courses were set up in the soft sand in an area adjacent to the event’s temporary home at the Montagu Caravan Park. These obstacles were altered daily, and the difficulty levels adjusted, as the competition progressed.
READ: SA rider sets new Cairo to Cape Town bike world record
The regional teams previously selected and those who were up for a spot in the wildcard team selected on Thursday, 10 May, were presented with a series of challenges to complete in a race against the clock (and the other teams).
Image: BMW Group
The overall winners were announced after a thrilling Saturday 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.
Strong contigent
“There are two things that stand out in the 2018 GS Trophy. We have seen a marked increase in the number of female participants – both on the rides and in the skills challenges – which is encouraging to us and is backed up by more interest from ladies in our learner rider courses,” says Edgar Kleinbergen, General Manager of BMW Motorrad South Africa.
The annual GS Trophy has been run since 2004, when it attracted an entry field of 98 participants.
"It’s also notable that the overall winners of the men’s Skills Challenge are aged between 19 and 34, which points to a lower average age of participants in the national GS Trophy qualifiers," Kleinbergen continued.
"It is encouraging to us to know that the sport of adventure riding in South Africa will continue for a long time to come."
Mongolia awaits Team SA
The winners of the 2018 GS Challenge 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 SA, together with the two South African ladies that form part of the EurAfrica team (including one French entrant), was also in Montagu to complete a number of training rides, assist the Skills Challenge participants, and receive their official send off from BMW Motorrad South Africa and all BMW riders.
Image: BMW Group
The team will shortly be departing to Mongolia to participate in the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy Central Asia 2018 from 3 to 10 June.
The gruelling event will require riders and their teams to cover close to 4 000km of the Asian country’s most challenging terrain 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
In all the GS Trophy activity, one notable event on the sidelines was when Jacques Diener, from Bloemfontein, popped the question to Celeste van Aardt after a scenic ride to Cape Agulhas on Thursday, 10 May.