VRYHEID KZN: Bland rallies into 36th position in gruelling Dakar Rally
In 2017, Bland competed in the Kalahari Rally, which is a seven-day endurance race that is similar to the Dakar but is hosted in Mafikeng
Ryan Bland is a well-known businessman in Vryheid, but he resides in Ballito. This 47-year-old recently competed in the 44th Dakar Rally with his 34-year-old German partner, Daniël Schröder, in the driver’s seat. The duo completed the 14-day extreme rally in a solid 36th place. The annual event started on January 1 in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and saw them completing more than 8000km over unforgiving terrain across Saudi Arabia. This was a first for Bland, as opposed to his partner, who has completed the race twice in the motorcycle category. Schröder has navigated for his father, Jürgen, on three occasions before. The duo set an overall time of 52 hours, 14 minutes and 41 seconds.
Ryan has been racing for the last 40 years and lived in Vryheid until he was 19 years old, before moving to Richards Bay. He has also lived in Europe and the United States, but is now settled in Ballito. As a child, Ryan had many Dakar heroes and watched the rally religiously. Even though he has competed in many motorcycle endurance and off-road racing events on national and local level, his one dream was to compete in the Dakar Rally. In 2012, he went to the Dakar with some of his friends to watch; they followed the race every day on their motorcycles on alternate routes. Ryan says it was the most amazing experience! He met Jurgen Schröder (63) during this time when Jurgen’s car caught alight in the first stage. The two of them have grown a great friendship over time and have raced together in lots of races in South Africa in the SACCS, which is the main cross-country race in South Africa. Jurgen and his son, Daniel, would fly to South Africa, while Ryan would navigate for them in these races.
In 2017, Bland competed in the Kalahari Rally, which is a seven-day endurance race that is similar to the Dakar but is hosted in Mafikeng. It is approximately 3500km, which is basically half of the Dakar’s distance. Bland and Jurgen placed second in that race. Last year June, Jurgen approached Bland to be navigator for him in the Dakar, since Jurgen had competed a few times in this challenging rally with his sons. “I was blown away, because this is a comeback for me after 2018 when I was attempting the Dakar on a motorcycle. I was training in Sodwana in the sand and I hit a dog. I broke my back, so that was the end of motorcycle racing for me, and the Dakar. I was in hospital for a month and I was almost paralysed,” Bland explains. He decided to continue racing in a car, since it was safer and easier on his injured back.
In preparation for the Dakar, Bland and Jurgen competed in the Parys Rally and placed ninth overall. They decided to do a social bike ride in the Transkei as part of a holiday, and unfortunately Jurgen fell and broke his shoulder. Daniel then took over his father’s place in the driver’s seat beside Bland in the Dakar.
The race was not without a challenge or two for the PS Laser Nissan Navara team, as they had a few mechanical obstacles and 17 punctures to overcome, which cost them precious time. However, they still managed to place 36th overall after claiming the 38th position in stage 12 in their VK50 Nissan Navara. “In general, we had a very good race.”
“The Dakar Rally is probably the toughest and longest rally in the world; tiring and long. We had a lot of highs and lows; some days were good and others not so much. A French team got stuck in the dunes at night and we couldn’t leave them there, so we towed them in. Days six, seven and eight were probably the worst, because you’ve raced for six or seven days already and there is just no end to it. It is 800km every day in sand and dust. We treated every day as a single race or event in itself, and took it day by day. Our motto was ‘to slowly catch the monkey’ and it really paid off for us. Lots of teams had problems; they crashed or withdrew from the race.” Even though Bland lives in Ballito, he says: “I am still a Vryheid boytjie. I lived and grew up there, and my family still live there. Vryheid will always be part of my roots. I have a business there and I will always be tied back to Vryheid. I know the community.” Bland ended off by saying: “We want to thank you all for supporting us, and yes, I would go race it next week again!”
(Photos supplied by Ryan’s father, Ian Bland)
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