Promising young rider conquers mountains of Maseru

LYDENBURG – When listening to the words of Brett Parish as he reflects on “one of the most challenging and sometimes dangerous off-road races in the world” and describes the riders of the Roof of Africa, one automatically reaches for your hat to congratulate Brendan Swanevelder, the 16-year-old local rider who tackled the mountains of Maseru fearlessly.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who displays great enthusiasm and devotion; who spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

“This quote by Theodore Roosevelt reminded me so much of the riders at this year’s ROA (Roof of Africa) that I’m going to use it as a mantra as I prepare to tackle the event myself next year,” Parish said.

Turning 16 this year, it was the first time Swanevelder was allowed to compete in the mother of hard enduros and little did he know what the mountains of Lesotho had to offer a 16-year-old.

From November 13 to 16 Swanevelder and his supportive team headed north for a “rather nice experience” as he describes it. While recalling the memories, it is clear that this young boy has a bright future ahead of him and is hundred per cent devoted to make his dreams become reality.

“It is a lot of pressure racing in a race like the Roof and it requires many hours, dedication and devotion,” Swanevelder said. With a humble smile he describes how he entered the competition with the slight expectation of doing quite good, especially when taking into consideration all the training that has been done, but he quickly added that everything can change in a matter of seconds due to unpredictable weather conditions they were exposed to.

The Roof of Africa takes place over three days, kicking off with the traditional “round the houses” stage to welcome riders and a time trail on day one to determine the starting positions of racers for the two days of official racing.

Swanevelder encountered an enormous setback due to failing GPSes and unfortunately ended up in the 81st position after the first racing day. “The time trail cost me a lot and numerous times I was stuck behind a lot of racers who suffered in the technical section of the race,” Swanevelder said.

Despite the fact that he lost plenty of time and energy during a difficult and “chaotic” first day, he managed to move 11 places up, finishing the first 136km in a time of 11 hours, 8 minutes and 2 seconds (11:08:02). As dusk turned to dawn riders prepared for the final day of racing – a 135km leg, which was later shortened to 121km due to torrential rain.

“I managed to catch up on a lot of riders, especially in the technical parts of the race, and I felt stronger and stronger as the race continued,” he said and added with slight disappointment in his voice that he was pulled from the race only 15 km before the finish line.

“It was definitely the lowest point of my experience. Putting in all the effort in a race like this, and being unable to show it on paper, will never be a highlight in any racer’s journey, but despite the various setbacks, I still feel so proud being able to come so close to finishing my first Roof of Africa.” Out of the 111 entries in the Golden category, only 23 riders managed to complete the race and overall less than 20 per cent of all riders crossed the finish line.

“Although I didn’t finish on paper, it was still an amazing experience. Making the people, who supported me throughout this journey, so proud was a wonderful feeling. Every day I train in such way to be better and better and I can’t wait to improve on my performances,” Swanevelder said.

According to him this is a sport which requires the highest dedication and commitment one can ever imagine. “I realised that it is not only about the race itself, but I finally understood the importance of preparation throughout the year.

I had to give up a lot and, especially over the last six months, I couldn’t afford to place a foot wrong. Racing the way I do completely changed my way of thinking, and I can’t wait to get closer to my dream,” Swanevelder said.

He dreams of moving to America to become an Extreme Enduro professional racer. He would like to thank his sponsors, Brother, High Developments, Rost Engineering, Pirreli Tyres and especially his parents, Brett and Sunel Swanevelder as well as his sister, Lisa and mechanic Dave Evans and Entheos for their unconditional love and support.

“Being such a young rider, I am dependent on so many people and their support and without the above-mentioned, pursuing my dreams would not be possible,” he said.