Roof of Africa

[theblacksmith]

Sad thing about it all, is yet another motorcycle event, with kiwis at the top of there game, will go unnoticed by the rest of the country out side the motorcycling community.
Not only did Chris win it last year, but successfully defended it this year, and to have Rory Mead finishing runner up, just bloody awesome, but no one will know, because the AB's game will over shadow it.

I always thought Ollie Sharp was an MXer, that would have to be a big leaning curve for him.

Well done Guys

We were told the good news by the commentator at the Wyndham Street Races.Few thousand kiwis were cheering for them there.
Well done Guys.
You are machines!!!

[Bradz]

Sad thing about it all, is yet another motorcycle event, with kiwis at the top of there game, will go unnoticed by the rest of the country out side the motorcycling community.
Not only did Chris win it last year, but successfully defended it this year, and to have Rory Mead finishing runner up, just bloody awesome, but no one will know, because the AB's game will over shadow it.

I always thought Ollie Sharp was an MXer, that would have to be a big leaning curve for him.

Well done Guys

Had to have a laugh one news sports tonight wrapped with a segment on womens roller derby... WTF is that about... oh and there was a portion of thugby thrown in

[xen]

excellent result.. big ups guys!

[fergie]

Well done guys, pity it's only mainstream sports that get tv coverage here. i wish we could subscribe to eurosport here.they have coverage of ALL sports,not just rugby.

[secondfield]

Mint.... absolutely mint result!

[vazza]

Would have been intense for Chris having Rory biting at his heels! They're both incredibly competitive hahah.

Both world class riders

[Ktmboy]

I think Chris was 2hrs 14 minutes ahead of Mead. Not quite yapping at his heels Vin.

[vazza]

I think Chris was 2hrs 14 minutes ahead of Mead. Not quite yapping at his heels Vin.

True that! I was told Rory was only 45minutes behind Chris, that was on the Saturday though.

My bad!

[kezzafish]

My body is so worn nowadays though.... I go for a ride and bits drop off- its a bit like having a Shineray or a Hummer

lol, or leprosy?

Well done to those fellas. Sucks that ya don't hear about it on the telly. If we weren't all too busy we'd send letters to the TV providers

[camchain]

What an amazing adventure and what a fine result.
Hard to get any detail info off that ROA website, have to open stupid PDFs for everything and still no idea of total distance covered.

Be good to know what happened to Ollie Sharp, real gutsy to take on an event like this. I feel ashamed of my mediocrity.

Funny you should mention that about TV kezza, I fought my apathy and found some TV contact stuff.

[SpikedPunch]

Had to have a laugh one news sports tonight wrapped with a segment on womens roller derby... WTF is that about... oh and there was a portion of thugby thrown in

Hey! I played Derby for two years until I bunged my knee and discovered dirtbikes. It's all run by the skaters for the skaters - and there is a huge effort on all of those girl's parts to promote the sport in the media. As in there is a specific committee in each league dedicated to media, not mention fundraising. hours and hours of unpaid time go towards organising all things derby, and it's all done by the players, not to mention four hours weekly training off season, six hours in season + 1-2 hours off skate training per week. They are a dedicated bunch and just as legitimate as any other sport.
Of course, all you'll see on the telly is girls in skirts and costumes, falling over. Just like all you'll see of bike stuff is the crashes or maybe some fmx. The general public aren't interested in learning the rules of a new sport and want instant entertainment and gimmicks - the derby girls know this and have used it to their advantage the whole way, and gained a bunch of legitimate fans and had sold out games in the process
By the way - the girls were pissed off about that segment. They didn't even mention who won the bloody game! How's that for reporting? 'In other news, some girls rollerskated around a rink and bashed each other a bit - the end.'
[/rant]

[clmintie]

Hey Spike, well written post, you should get a $100k/yr job at MNZ... PROMOTING OUR SPORT..........

[Bradz]

Hey! I played Derby for two years until I bunged my knee and discovered dirtbikes. It's all run by the skaters for the skaters - and there is a huge effort on all of those girl's parts to promote the sport in the media. As in there is a specific committee in each league dedicated to media, not mention fundraising. hours and hours of unpaid time go towards organising all things derby, and it's all done by the players, not to mention four hours weekly training off season, six hours in season + 1-2 hours off skate training per week. They are a dedicated bunch and just as legitimate as any other sport.
Of course, all you'll see on the telly is girls in skirts and costumes, falling over. Just like all you'll see of bike stuff is the crashes or maybe some fmx. The general public aren't interested in learning the rules of a new sport and want instant entertainment and gimmicks - the derby girls know this and have used it to their advantage the whole way, and gained a bunch of legitimate fans and had sold out games in the process
By the way - the girls were pissed off about that segment. They didn't even mention who won the bloody game! How's that for reporting? 'In other news, some girls rollerskated around a rink and bashed each other a bit - the end.'
[/rant]

A good perspective, though i wasnt having a dig at the sport persay more that the news gave time to a piece about a random sport at a time when kiwis are conquering the world in their event..

[SpikedPunch]

Haha! I just don't think the derby style of marketing would work eh. For one, with all those short skirts and fishnets, the enduro guys would have to shave their legs, and then it might as well be cycling!
In the very early days of NZ derby we'd do flyer/poster runs around central Auckland on our skates. A poster run around town on a dirtbike doesn't sound too bad. At least bikes have brakes

[SpikedPunch]

A good perspective, though i wasnt having a dig at the sport persay more that the news gave time to a piece about a random sport at a time when kiwis are conquering the world in their event..

That 'random' sport has been around since the 1930's (although the modern revival began in the early 2000's). It was on the news because a) it was the season championships of NZ's biggest derby league, and b) Thanks to the petitioning and efforts of the derby girls, 'Whip it' a film about roller derby, is going to be released in NZ either late this year or early next year. So it's a 'hot topic'. Of course ROA should have been on the news, it's kiwis winning internationally! It's stupid that it wasn't. But the squeaky wheel gets the grease. And derby girls just so happen to have meticulously greased bearings You've gotta remember, you and I might be familiar with enduro/xc/mx/whatever, but it's a pretty 'random' sport to people who haven't got anything to do with it.
Ok seriously, I'm off topic here...Back to facebook or something