Different format offers no less excitement
This being the 10 anniversary edition of Thomas and Jacqui Bohm’s event, they made the decision to give it a makeover. Gone is the camping ground down by the Sabie River with its steep and often slippery access track.
This year the competitors had the choice of accommodation in the Bohm Zeederberg hotel or could camp in the grounds.
All the meals were served in the hotel which simplified matters. What did not change was the scenic and occasionally challenging routes for the entrants to ride with Saturday’s Black Route being rather punishing due to the heat and humidity.
Various competitions such as finding GPS waypoints hidden at interesting sites add interest to the Friday ride. This is not as easy at it sounds as you still have to find the card hidden on site and if you are the first, you turn the card over and leave a message to your fellow riders which is not very polite.
Prizes donated by sponsors were of high value and quality. As mentioned earlier Saturday was hot and muggy and eventually 18 riders earned the Black Route Badge. This certainly had an effect on the afternoons’ fun and games. Saturday afternoon is the real competitive section of the event with participants having to ride their bikes against the clock, perform several different actions and ride over various obstacles.
Run as a series of head-to-head elimination heats, fastest with fewest penalties goes through to the next round.
As the competition intensified some riders found the challenge too much after the morning’s route. As ever Eddie Immelman gave it his all and entertained the crowd with a spectacular get off over the finish line. The top-16 riders came down to an exciting tussle between local favourite Denzil Lawrie and Johan Gray with Johan putting in an excellent ride to win.
The top six were completed by third Eddie Immelman (third) Allen Muir (fourth) Gert van der Merwe (fifth) and Wouter Wagner (sixth).
The main sponsors were Centurion’s BMW dealer Bavarian Motorrad which provided tremendous support, along with Metzeler Tyres complete with a tyre-changing service. Sunday morning saw 70 odd entrants head home from a well-run, at times tough and exciting event. Certainly the changes made were met with general approval.
