Well done Chris Birch!

[krad_nz]

Congrats, definitely an inspiration.

[Reckless]

Dafydd is a member here Pm him his user name is the same. He rides the christini all wheel drive bike when he rides with us.

Mind you at $289-00 USD they are probably more expensive than a new pipe here in NZ. Couldn't find them on his site.
Ok to spend that if damaging the pipe will loose you the race but for us riding trails ????

Secondly well done Chris. That rock face wasn't riding it was an iron man challenge!!!

[warewolf]

More on advrider: Roof of Africa - short race report

Well done Chris!

[cave weta]

I just went in to Birchys website there is another nice little write up on his exploits

copied here:

Roof of Africa WIN!!
New Zealander Chris Birch powers KTM to victory in Roof of Africa

He came, saw and conquered ...



After three days of torturous Enduro riding in the race that is called the Mother of all Hard Enduro races, Chris Birch, riding a KTM 300 EXC was not only winner of the notorious Roof of Africa - he also did it by a huge margin of 48.5 minutes.

The New Zealander rode his own race from start to finish over three days and 450 tortuous kilometers in the tiny kingdom of Lesotho in the heart of southern Africa. The 2008 race was the most technically demanding in the event's 41-year history, but despite that there has rarely been so many finishers, a tribute perhaps to the increasingly popularity of Hard Enduro as an attractive offroad sport.

Birch: Tired but happy "Today I am exhausted," Birch told reporters after the finish. "Over three days the difficulty factor stepped up drastically every day…. I am tired now but I would like to come back next year to defend my title." Birch was on his KTM for a total of 15 hours 53 minutes and 36 seconds and said the race compares well with any of the top events he had competed in all around the world. Two South African riders, Jade Gutzeit (Yamaha) and Darryl Curtis (KTM) took the minor overall places and seven of the top 10 riders in the overall results were onboard KTM machines. KTM riders took all three places in the open class.

Only the toughest survive After the traditional "Round the Houses" in Lesotho's capital Maseru on the opening day, the almost 100km long "Time Trial" already eliminated many of the field. This was followed by an exhausting 180km of extreme terrain on day two that cut the remaining field in half. It was only the toughest of the original 300 starters that were still in the saddle for the final race day of 180 km with just 43 riders completing the entire program.

Overall results
1. Chris Birch, New Zealand, KTM
2. Jade Gutzeit, South Africa, Yamaha
3. Darryl Curtis, South Africa, KTM
4. Bartosz Oblucki, Poland, Husqvarna
5. Craig Stone, KTM

Result Open Class
1. Chris Birch, New Zealand, KTM
2. Louwrens Mahony, South Africa, KTM
3. Mark Fox, South Africa, KTM

This was a really great race, the course was huge fun and Lesotho is an amazingly beautiful place. I was looked after very well by the guys over there so a huge thanks to THE ROOST, Mark and Charmane, Hyde Industries, Polysport, Sherwood Liquors, Bearings And Industrial Supplies Ltd and all the other people I met in SA that made me feel so welcome

[camchain]

There are some more good photos on KTMtalk put up by one of the event organisers. Not only great event shots (I liked the pic of the WR clutch utterly destroyed on a climb) but some nice ones showing more on what the area is like as well, i.e if that big tree root moves, the root is probably made of meat not wood. His kids were giving the snake the Steve Irwin type close inspection.