Dirt and Trail May 2020

FEATURE
2020
GS TROPHY
TEAM SA DOES IT AGAIN, THIS TIME IN NEW ZEALAND
Last month, we told you all about team South Africa winning
the international GS Trophy AGAIN. This month, Byron
Coetsee, who went along as the official media body gives a
more in depth view of what went down, deep down under…
South Africa first won the
International GS Trophy in
2016 in Thailand. In 2018,
we won it again in Mongolia.
This year in New Zealand,
South Africa placed 1st again,
making us the most successful
team in the event’s history
and to top it off, doing it on a
hat-trick.
Words and pics Byron Coetsee
There have been many questions
around why South Africa produces
such strong riders and in my opinion,
it’s because of a number of key things
which are unique to South Africa. One
of the biggest contributing factors is
the fact that we have nearly unbeatable
riding terrain – from the soft sands in
the Western Cape to the rocky, hard and
loose tracks up country. If you really feel
like challenging yourself you can head
into Lesotho. There, even the hardest
riders are tested, regardless of their
machine of choice. It has become a little
bit of a tradition now for each new SA
team to head into Lesotho for a few days
to “bond”. As for what that bonding is,
well, I’ll leave it to the imagination but
what I can say is if the team makes it
through there without losing their minds
(or bikes!), they’ve conquered something
far more physically demanding than the
Trophy can provide and we prove to one
another that in the toughest of times, we
are a team and we’ll stay that way.
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