Well done Chris Birch!

**saffer** · 29th November 2008, 17:55

You Kiwis might be interested to hear that New Zealand's Chris Birch is leading the Roof of Africa enduro with one day to go. Riding a KTM 300XCW he currently has about a 25min lead on the 2nd placed rider.

The Roof is Southern Africa's toughest race and takes place each year in the mountain Kingdom of Lesotho.

**cr125nz** · 29th November 2008, 18:01

mint good to hear hope he does well and takes it out to be no.1

**flyingcr250** · 29th November 2008, 18:39

birchy is the man. some of the places he goes, its increddible

**secondfield** · 29th November 2008, 22:34

Apparently he got the headsup about that event from a south african family he randomly gave a ride to the airport while he was in Austria (visiting KTM).

The dad of the family sorted Chris the ticket there and a bike plus entry (Birchy was a bit broke at the time)..

Him and his mates go to the race every year and get pissed. He reckons they needed someone to cheer for this time.

Dont think they'll be dissapointed eh..

**shafty** · 29th November 2008, 23:31

Originally Posted by secondfield

Apparently he got the headsup about that event from a south african family he randomly gave a ride to the airport while he was in Austria (visiting KTM).

The dad of the family sorted Chris the ticket there and a bike plus entry (Birchy was a bit broke at the time)..

Him and his mates go to the race every year and get pissed. He reckons they needed someone to cheer for this time.

Dont think they'll be dissapointed eh..

Great story!! Keep us posted. We like being posted!

**Danger** · 29th November 2008, 23:42

25 mins is a big lead! Go Chris!

**saffer** · 30th November 2008, 03:57

News just in.

Chris won the Roof of Africa on his KTM300 by a massive 48 minutes.

Great stuff.

You are the man.

I wish I could post some pics taken of the race on this forum.

**Dutchee** · 30th November 2008, 06:47

Way to go Birchy

Been logging on to Waitemata's website for Mon's update each day. Shame that Gerhard Foster crashed out, as that way there would've been a competition happening

But fantastic result and his family will be way proud of him.

**theblacksmith** · 30th November 2008, 08:24

Way to go Chris - your the man!
48 minutes is an incredible lead.
Awesome!

**saffer** · 1st December 2008, 08:42

After a total 15 hours 53 minutes and 36 seconds on the bike, over the three days, Chris Birch remarked: “We do not have anything like this at home. The terrain is absolutely amazing and the best off-road conditions I have seen anywhere. This race compares well with any of the top events I have competed in around the world.”

When asked how he felt, Birch replied: “Today I am exhausted, over the three days the difficulty factor stepped up drastically every day. Today was really tough with ‘Donkey-Pass’ and ‘Lucky-Pass’ sapping the last strength and energy out of your body. I am tired now but I would like to come back next year to defend my title.”

With a total of 22 overseas contestants, competing in this year’s event it truly strengthens the international status of the race. Gerhard Forster from the BMW Factory Team in Germany must have had the worst luck amongst the overseas riders when he hit a fence post ripping the ligaments in his left upper arm. Not only was he not able to start the last day, but he will have undergo surgery to have the shoulder fixed.

When asked they came across some of these amazing tracks in inaccessible countryside, Ashley Thorne, chairman of the Lesotho Off Road Association replied: “For many weekends, we put on boots and back-packs and we hiked up and down the mountains to find new routes to slow competitors down, bring the race closer to spectators and pay attention to technical riding.”

“A marking team, consisting of three riders, from Germany spent a month on the route, riding every section and day-by-day completing the stages to ensure the success that we had in the event this year,” concluded Thorne

With everyone looking forward to next year’s event, training programs will definitely be revisited and motorcycles repaired after this great event, so that the top riders can challenge ‘Birchie’ next year.

**cheese** · 1st December 2008, 09:05

Wow he is bloody good! Well done!

**cave weta** · 1st December 2008, 10:04

Thank you saffer and welcome to Kiwi Biker! - I hope we see more of you!

we are keen to see you photos- if you put them on photobucket, you can then copy and paste the html code into your posts here and 'voilla' there they are!

tell us more about where you ride and what type of family riding is available

great to have some international imput- ` makes us feel very important down here

Oh .... and Chris, you are a bloody legend! we are very proud to have you on here too!!

**cave weta** · 1st December 2008, 10:10

Thank you saffer and welcome to Kiwi Biker! - I hope we see more of you!

we are keen to see you photos- if you put them on photobucket, you can then copy and paste the html code into your posts here and 'voilla' there they are!

tell us more about where you ride and what type of family riding is available

great to have some international imput- ` makes us feel very important down here

Oh .... and Chris, you are a bloody legend! we are very proud to have you on here too!!

**camchain** · 1st December 2008, 10:39

Thanks saffer. Great fresh info all the way from SA!

Outstanding result. The Birchinator is doing some amazing and inspirational stuff. He must be so fit now he's probably near jumping out of his skin. It must be very difficult to keep the mental focus required while dealing with the organisational difficulties that must come with doing these events in different countries - on a shoe-string budget to boot!