This event was a first of its kind in South Africa, pushing boundaries and setting the bar for rally training of future Dakar finishers and rally riders.
This year we had three 2022 Dakar entrants and many more hopefuls for the coming years at the event. With a total of 20 bikes and 2 cars, there was a lot of excitement in the small Karoo town of Murraysburg on Friday Fri 23 April 2022
The basis of the event is to create an environment in which rally riders get to practice riding their roadbooks without the pressure of a high paced race.
This not being a race, it was a full on rally simulation, thus it was like a proper rally, including start times, control zones, speed zones, live tracking, penalties, waypoints, hidden waypoints, etc. Thus, just being the fastest rider, did not guarantee you a spot on the leaderboard. What counted, like in a real rally, was consistency and attention to detail.
It also created an environment, we riders could learn from each other, bounce ideas off each other, and just have an overall great time in the Karoo, while riding their bikes.
Day 1 was wide open liaison style roads, with a short special, just to get the riders into the groove of things, and to make sure all the bikes were in good condition for the next 2 days.
Day 2 the navigation was stepped up, with lots of tight twisty farms roads, river beds, and rocky sections, as well as about 76 gates!!!! (We are considering renaming the event - Karoo Gate Rally)
Day 3 was the culmination of everything that the riders learned, it started out in a very long river bed, transitioned into fast open farm roads, and then went into some pans for a navigational challenge of note, where you had to do a lot of HP/OP (Off track) riding to find Masked (WPM) and Eclipsed (WPE) waypoints.
Once you were done with this, you had to cross a massive mountain in order to get back to the bivouac. It is safe today stage 3 was by far the favourite and to some the hardest stage of the event.
Entrants all camped together at the local showgrounds in Murraysburg where they shared the farmers hall for everything, from eating and braai-ing together to marking their roadbooks at night.
Every evening there was a virtual Q&A session with rally riders and rally organisers, including Kalahari Rally Orga, Ross Branch and Graeme Sharpe.
This virtual, informal chat was held by the fire at night, in a setting where upcoming rally riders could ask any question to these rally legends, as well as them parting some advice and wisdom upon the newer rally riders.
Overall, a great event, where lifelong friendships were made, and something that we will be repeating next year, so make sure to start getting your rally bike ready so long.
To all the Dakar, Kalahari and Tankwa rally entrants who joined us, we wish you all the best for the upcoming events, and will be looking on proudly as you cross the finish line!
Thank you Jan Hendrik Swiegers for the absolutely next level photos.
Also, a massive thank you to all the land owners, helpers and volunteers of this event, it would not be possible without you.
Comentarios