The Roof Of Africa 2024
Ok let’s get this out of the way first:
Once again, The Roof is not without controversy – and sadly, the final gold result will ultimately be decided in MSA courts thanks to protests from two of the manufacturers, who both have a very serious interest in The Roof results.
However:
We are not here to go into all of that – our job is to kinda give an idea of what The Roof Of Africa 2024 was all about. So here goes… It was a rip snorting adventure for everyone who was there!
Pics by: Blankie Man, Foley Foto and ZCMC.
We took along a mob of journalistic type people to watch that adventure unfold and, certainly from a spectators point of view, it was one of those seriously epic events.
In the past we took along big, serious adventure bikes in order to get to the action on time. This year we opted to take along three little bikes – and that was a great choice, we all had a proper blast. You’ll see more about those over the next few weeks as we share more about The Roof and some of the experiences in The Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho.
In the premier Gold class:
Gas Gas’ Wade Young was a class act as he crossed the line before any other competitor by a big margin, matching the record for the most Roof wins.
Sherco’s Teodor Kabakchiev was a man on a mission as he came across second. It was properly fantastic to see a rider of his caliber coming to SA to take on the South African big guns.
You’ll need to keep an eye on Gas Gas’ James Moore! He was fastest at the time trial by a fair margin and he scooped the third podium step on the day despite a fairly impressive crash on day 1 of the racing.
The very consistent Husqvarna mounted Travis Teasdale came across in fourth place.
These guys put on a truly epic show in one of the toughest Roof Of Africa races to date. It was great to see them out there.
However: (Lots of those in this feature).
While we all aspire to be gold riders, there were so many other battles that raged through the weekend… and it all started on the streets of Maseru.
Day 1: Round the houses and The Time Trial:
The Roof of Africa is synonymous with Round the houses and this year, that event was moved to the Maseru Mall, which is also where the time trial is held.
Guys, it was, once again, epic as bikes screamed along a circular route from the mall and back to the mall. Some riders are super serious as they put the bikes motard style through the corners, while others lurked along at the back popping wheelies and entertaining the crowds that line the streets. If you’ve never seen it – it’s really good fun to watch!
Round the houses however, is purely a spectacle to show the bikes off to the people of Lesotho and the people who come along to watch the Roof.
Even Lesotho’s big boss Mr Sam Matakane comes out to join the fun in his big Can Am. He seriously seems to be a man of the people – always smiling and just soaking in the Roof vibes.
The business end starts during the time trial:
We really enjoy this format – rather than trekking for miles to get to the start of the time trial, the Roof organisers set up a route all around the mountain behind the Maseru Mall. And it was brilliant, just a taste of what riders could expect for the balance of the weekend.
We clambered (OK rode halfway up), and walked some of the routes to watch the guys in action. It wasn’t an easy route – serious climbs and Massive off cambers with the city of Maseru as a backdrop.
At the end of that time trial is the man-made enduro-cross section with rocks, logs and tyres. It’s a serious crowd favourite with spectators lining the course offering advice and giving pointers as the riders take on either the big stuff – or the chicken run option. Man it’s cool – and we wont lie – most spectators are just there to see whether the riders will come unstuck…
Day 2: Into the mountains.
Even spectating at The Roof is tough (Ok don’t shoot us!). The alarm sounds at 4am and your body just rebels at the idea of clambering out of bed. But it’s so worth it!
After a breakfast and lots of coffee, hop onto the bike for a ride through to the brand new Roof Venue in the village of Matsieng. What a pleasure! Chilly, fresh clear blue skies and the sheer splendor of the Mountain Kingdom all around you.
It’s flippen breathtaking.
Things were still being set up as we arrived at the staging area outside Matsieng. It’s a real hustle as crews arrive, arches are inflated. Timing equipment is set up and the teams start to arrive. It sure was a great place to start from – a wide open field surrounded by the mountains.
We wandered through the competitors, met with old friends, shared a laugh and chatted to the riders.
The tension was palpable, things were absolutely getting real.
We met people from all over SA and the world, new bikes old bikes young riders and slightly more mature. Gareth Ireland was out on his ‘97 KTM200 (He won Round The Houses), with his buddy who was on a ‘94 KTM 300. It was brilliant watching them and on the last day we caught them climbing up to the finish.
So Cool.
The guys line up according to their times from the day before and the riders set off, quickly disappearing into the mountains.
We had no idea where spectator points were (we genuinely never really pay any attention…) and just hopped onto our little bikes and wandered off into the surrounding countryside. Just ten minutes down the road, we watched the riders wrestling their bikes up a pass quite close to the road – and then a crossing!
We parked and took a walk (NOTE! Wear comfy shoes) across the field to where we could hear riders coming unstuck.
It’s so worth heading up into the mountains. We witnessed just how good the current crop of hard enduro riders are in SA – and we came to understand the saying: “You don’t come to Roof for a haircut!” as riders scrummed to get to the top… only to be faced with a massive descent… then another climb… “Unrelenting” is a word that we heard often through the weekend…
After a few hours on the mountain, we headed off to the DSP to watch the riders come through and where they would take a compulsory 20 minute sabbatical to gather their breath and get their bikes and bodies ready for the afternoon’s onslaught.
They nailed it as far as the DSP was concerned – a great big shady poplar forest – and acres of gazebo’s awaited the riders and spectators. It was a very cool place to spend a few hours.
The riders started coming in and many of them were properly buggered and a bit wide eyed. It took the gold riders a long time to get to that halfway point… a seriously tough day in the saddle.
Once again, the afternoon was spent looking for spectator points – and we have that waxed! Find someone who looks like they know what they are doing and follow them with great confidence. Seriously, it’s never a chore, the routes were all within a small area, so finding a lookout point is really easy.
This one paid off.
We followed a winding trail right up into the mountains and found a gold riders only pass called Platinum Pass. We could hear a bike battling along right at the very top, so we put on our takkies and started the hike…
About forty kilometres up (Ok a kilometre) we came across Brett Swanepoe’ls folks who had come along to watch the fun. Very few riders had been through and they were waiting for Brett.
That’s when we heard that Brett was a new dad! Congrats Sir!
After a short wait Brett arrived. “What’s the rest like?” was his question. A tough Roof. And up he went. We followed. Guys. Pics and vids never do terrain like this any justice. Anyone that can ride a bike up a pass like that has our big respect!
We spent a few hours up there and only two other riders came through, Dylan Jones was followed by Brendon Smith.
We wanted to see the riders coming in, so after an hour’s clamber back down the pass we hopped on and headed back to the start. We met up with MC Matt “Hollywood” Smith for a chat and you can view that on our facebook page.
Wade was out for ten hours on that day. This is the King of the mountains – and he rode half of that day with a broken footpeg… Although the route was shorter than in years before the average speed for gold was around just 15 or 16 KPH! Eish!
Teodor ran out of fuel, tough day… He still came in 2nd into the overnight.
Travis Teasdale was just on his tail, followed closely by James Moore. 11 hours out!
We chatted to the top bronze lady Terri-Lyn Hodge who was all smiles. “Great day all in but the bottleneck at the end caught us out”
That’s Roof!
Day three dawned to the news that everyone could start the Saturday stage and that, given the time taken on Friday, Saturday’s route was shortened to ensure that everyone could get home.
The staging point was a sea of motorcycles, the flags dropped and the warriors once again took to the trails…
It was a truly epic day of racing and by all accounts, the riders really had a much better time than on the previous day.
We took ourselves off to a little village just down the way where we found a silver climb called The Kings Stairway and spent a few happy hours clambering around, ripping our mates off and watching the action.
It’s easy when you have a little bike to get around with.
We didn’t want to miss the top riders coming in, so – once the bulk of the riders were through, we headed back to the Start finish to catch the action.
And of that, there was PLENTY!
What a finish area they selected! The riders came in through a kind of flat, grassy plain and they could see the finishers’ arch and all the peeps…
And then…
A massive set of step-ups up to the end.
Gold and Silver had two huge rock faces to negotiate, both taller than a man – but after what they had already gone through, they all nailed it.
Bronze and Iron were not so lucky.
It was carnage – and we are pretty sure that one Sherco rider got so annoyed that he actually flung his bike at the photographers!
You should have heard the crowd cheer when Lesotho Rider JJ Basia Maseatile came to a stop at the end of Silver. It was epic to watch!
We hung out right until the end to see Wild Will Gillit complete his 18th Gold class at the tender age of 54.
We chatted to SA’s Iron lady Kirsten Landman who was all smiles at the end of Silver.
There’s another lady called Shay Blackman. Be very careful if she ever invites you to go on a little ride with her. She helped one of our Icelandic grannies, Theodora (Almost 60) who did the iron class. These vikings are a tough lot!
The last rider in was Eswan Hol after a full ten hours in the saddle.
His words: “Dit was n Kak idie, Waneer kom ons weer!”
That’s Roof!
Please go to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/dirtandtrail, have a watch, start at the bottom and work your way up for the timeline. Give us a like and a follow.
There are lots of people you know and you can get an idea of the terrain that was flung at these guys.
There is quite simply too much to write about…
As we said at the beginning of this lot:
In Gold, Young was first to finish, claiming his ninth Roof victory to equal Alfie Cox’s all-time record. He was followed in by Kabakchiev and Moore.
Teasdale was next, with Walker, Stevens and Smith hot on his tailpipe!
Please take nothing away from the other classes – we’ve seen places where even goats fear to tread – and these riders literally took the bull by the horns…
Silver: Marco Pfeiffer. Damo Garrel. Kyle Gibson.
Bronze: Zack Nieman. Justin Viviers. Royce Griffin.
Iron: Lars Brandlin. Sebastien Steinfeller. Jean Bezuidenhout.
In conclusion:
The Roof Of Africa is one of those events that we really try hard not to miss. Lesotho is a very special, breathtakingly beautiful place. We love bikes and to see some of the best riders in South Africa and the world slogging it out is pretty darn spectacular.
The comment has been passed that we should be more focussed on the problems that beset The Roof Of Africa this year… someone going as far as stating that this story is poor journalism.
This was our experience and read the opening statement
“Once again, The Roof is not without controversy.”
There is a lot of work going on in the background to identify the mistakes made and the way forward for the Roof Of Africa, an event that so many of us have come to love. Our story is about the country and the warriors who come out to take on the challenge. We absolutely understand that this years format did not work nearly as well as planned, but will us harping on about the issues really help?
Believe us when we say that we fully understand the frustrations.
Lets hope that organisers and the custodians of The Roof Of Africa take the bull by the horns and get stuff sorted.
Thank you guys!
See you next year!
