Roof of Africa silver for Salt Rock local
Improves last year's 11th place at toughest endurance race.
Salt Rock motorcross racer Brett Swanepoel survived close to 19 hours on his Yamaha during the 2014 Roof of Africa Extreme Enduro race in Lesotho last weekend.
He finished in second place overall, which is a major improvement on his 11th place finish last year.
The Roof of Africa, held in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho is considered to be one of the toughest off-road endurance events in the world.
The race attracts some of the world’s best extreme Enduro competitors to take on the challenge.
This was the second time that Swanepoel had competed in this competition.
“The best part was coming up to the finish and hearing all the spectators screaming for you,” said Swanepoel.
The race is rated as ‘The Mother of Hard Enduro’ of all the international enduro events as it is not only physically but also mentally challenging.
“The worst part was running out of fluids on the Friday with 30km to go before the next service point,” said Swanepoel.
“I drank water from a stream but did not want to fill my camelbak (it’s a water or hydration backpack) so I could save time,” he said.
Swanepoel rode for nine hours on the Friday and eight on the Saturday.
On both days he challenged Graeme Jarvis from England for the second position.
Jarvis has been the number one Extreme Enduro rider in the world for four years and has only recently been pipped off to second position by Jonny Walker also of the UK.
Swanepoel finished Friday in second, which gave him some time over Jarvis, but the hard part was to maintain it.
After starting in second place on Saturday morning, a navigation mistake cost him his position but he managed to work his way back in the last 40km of the day.
Swanepoel’s total riding time, which included a time trial on Thursday was 18:55:22.
The race was won by fellow South African Wade Young riding for Brother KTM, Swanepoel riding for Proudly Bidvest Yamaha in second and Graeme Jarvis in third riding for Husqvarna Factory Racing
The Thursday before the main event Swanepoel took part in the time trials where he finished 8th overall with a time of one hour.
Swanepoel has been racing in Enduro events for the last seven years and clearly this sport is his passion.
He is sponsored by Monster as a Monster Athlete and his future endeavors include improving his riding and continuing to get those podium finishes.
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