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Successful BMW Motorrad GS Challenge in Germany

25/06/2010

Over the weekend of 18-20 June, 140 BMW riders from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Hungary, Russia and Turkey took part in the third BMW Motorrad GS Challenge Germany.

The event, which attracted participants between the ages of 23 and 60, formed part of the Touratech Travel-Event in Niedereschach and it was the second time that the GS Challenge Germany was held in the Black Forest region. As before, the focus of this adventure rally wasn’t speed or risk, but more about riding skills, navigation, team spirit and physical fitness.

On the Friday and Saturday the contestants were faced with a variety of tasks and routes, covering 32 checkpoints and 17 special tests. The organisers selected many attractive routes that explored around 700 kilometres of the most beautiful areas of the Black Forest, and were designed to test competitors’ riding and navigation skills to the maximum. In addition to nine Enduro and Trial tests (which were made even more difficult by continuous rain on Saturday) the Challenge participants had other tasks to master, including the building of a wooden raft to carry motorcycle parts and themselves across a pond at “Landhaus Lauble”.

The BMW GS Challenge Germany was also the basis for the selection of the three German participants who will represent their country against the best amateur riders from Europe, Japan, Canada and the USA at the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy later this year in Southern Africa. From 109 riders eligible for selection to compete on the African continent in November, the three German winners of this year’s BMW Motorrad GS Challenge are Werner Modelmann, Dirk Remmel and Thomas Donnecker.

The GS Trophy participants from Austria and Switzerland were also selected in a separate ‘Alpencup’ category. The best GS riders from both these countries were chosen in an eliminator that took place on the Saturday evening following the final of the German participants. Austrian Bernhard Schmidtmayr and Swiss riders Christop Muri and Johannes de Ciutiis will represent the ‘Alpenteam’ in South Africa in November.

A celebrity participant in this year’s BMW Motorrad GS Challenge Germany was motorcycle adventurer Charley Boorman, who took part as a guest rider on Saturday (without scoring points) on a BMW HP2 from Touratech. The British actor’s exploits on BMW GS machines with best friend Ewan McGregor were documented in the Long Way Round and Long Way Down television series, as well as the Race to Dakar project, on which he competed on a BMW F 650 GS. Boorman also served as a jury member in the concluding final of the GS Challenge Germany event.

After yet another successful weekend of Enduro fun, BMW GS fans are being encouraged to join next year’s BMW Motorrad GS Challenge Germany, which will take place from 26-29 May 2011, again as part of the Touratech Travel Event in Niedereschach.

Film footage of this year’s BMW Motorrad GS Challenge can be viewed on the Touratech Web-TV by visiting www.touratech-video.de