Stephanie Bouisson, France, Amy Harburg, Australia and
Morag Campbell, South Africa, will form the first ever female team
in Thailand in 2016.
Munich/Johannesburg. From 13 to 15 September at
the Country Trax Off-road Riding Academy in South Africa ten female
GS riders from UK, France, Spain, Iceland, USA, Canada, Brazil,
Thailand, Australia and South Africa have been battling it out for
the ultimate prize - a place on the first ever female team to
contest the 2016 International GS Trophy in Southeast Asia from 28
February to 5 March 2016. After an intense series of 13 separate
challenges held over three competition days, France's Stephanie
Bouisson emerged as the overall winner, followed by Australia's Amy
Harburg in second place, with South Africa's Morag Campbell close
behind in third. All three ladies will go on to make
BMW Motorrad history by forming the first ever female team to enter
the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy - the fifth edition of
which will take place in Thailand next spring.
From the very start of this unique 'qualifier' held at Country
Trax the spirit and sense of camaraderie among the ten ladies has
been inspiring, given that they come from all across the globe and
are united only by their love of riding
BMW GS motorcycles.
A worldwide search earlier this year for a trio of lady GS
riders to form a team to contest the International GS Trophy finals
produced a staggering 119 applications by girls from 29 different
nations, all keen to show that they had exactly what's needed to
represent their country - and also their gender - in the most
famous competitive off-road customer motorcycling event in the
world.
From the initial applications, a jury decided on a shortlist of
the ten most suitable females to go to South Africa for the
qualifying event. The ten girls came from all continents (Europe,
America, Africa, Asia and Australasia), with ages ranging from 26
to 46-years-old.
The International GS Trophy female team qualifier officially got
underway on Sunday 13 September at the Country Trax Off-road Riding
Academy, using BMW R 1200 GS bikes equipped with Original BMW
Motorrad Accessories
to protect against the rigours of off-road competition riding.
After all, the tasks the girls would face would be every bit as
tough as all other GS Trophy qualifying competitions, and in this
case, virtually identical to the recent South Africa 'national'
qualifying final held at this same venue.
No sooner had the girls arrived than the challenges began - the
first one being a race to pitch their tents for the night - against
the clock. Further challenges on the first day included 'Blindfold
Cone', 'Fritz-garden' (in homage to "Fritz", the only person to
complete this course with a 100 percent success record) and 'Rope
the Tree'. A welcome dinner followed but this wasn't the end of the
riding for the girls, who had one final challenge to complete -
'The Maze' - despite it being completely dark outside. Late in the
evening the rankings were added up and the top three girls
announced. Australia's Amy Harburg had taken an early lead, while
local lady Morag Campbell was in second, with Jennifer Huntley from
the UK in third.
Day two started early for the multi-national squad of ladies,
with a photo-shoot with their respective national flags, and
interviews before the first of many challenges they would face
throughout the day. These included 'The Forest'; 'The Rocks'; 'The
Mud' and the imaginatively titled 'Suffer-Ring' later in the
morning, all against the clock of course. The afternoon saw the
girls take on the 'Up and Downs' enduro skills course before the
final challenge of the day, simply known as 'The Oval'.
With so many challenges completed and just about every kind of
skill level tested, it was to be expected that the positions in the
rankings would change dramatically. The surprise of the day was
France's Stephanie Bouisson, who not only came first overall on the
day, but also leapt from fifth to first place in the overall
standings. Second of the day was Australia's Amy Harburg, who
remained second overall, while in third for the day was the UK's
Jennifer Huntley, who slipped one place to fourth on the leader
board, behind local lady Morag Campbell.
On 15 September - the final morning of the competition - there
remained only two challenges to complete, but with the stakes so
high, and so much to lose (or gain), decisions had to be made on
whether to take big chances or to play it safe. The first challenge
- 'Elephant Turn' - required the girls to ride approximately 50
metres through deep sand, turn their bike around a cone and then
return to their starting point. The second was simply entitled
'Skills Challenge' yet it was anything but simple. There were a
number of tough trial style obstacles to overcome on a flowing
circuit designed to expose any weaknesses in riding technique,
including a 360-degree 'coffee-grinder' pipe, a see-saw, a
log-jump, riding the pavement, deep ruts and parallel logs, to name
just a few.
When the challenge was completed by all ladies, the marshals and
judges took their leave to collate the results, while the ten
competitors all embraced and offered each other words of
encouragement completely in keeping with the true Trophy spirit.
Their final challenge was to strike their tents, pack their bags
and await the results.
The results were not long in coming, with all the competitors
honoured for their amazing efforts during the course of the
hard-fought, yet hugely entertaining qualifier. Commenting on this
GS Trophy experience, head of BMW Motorrad Marketing Dr. Ralf
Rodepeter praised all the ladies for their phenomenal efforts and
commitment, stating that: "All these ladies are winners, just to
have made it to South Africa to compete in the qualifier. There has
been a true spirit and sense of camaraderie shown by all the
competitors, who have been fighting until the end but have
supported each other throughout all the challenges. For sure there
have to be three lucky ones who get the chance to go to Thailand,
but all ten should consider themselves winners for the way they
have come together as a family and demonstrated the unique GS
spirit. We truly hope that these amazing ambassadors will take this
passion back to their respective countries and riding communities,
and will encourage even more women to embrace the GS
lifestyle."
Overall standings and points:
1. Stephanie Bouisson (France) - 1931 pts.
2. Amy Harburg (Australia) - 2098 pts.
3. Morag Campbell (South Africa) - 2153 pts.
4. Jennifer Huntley (UK) - 2824 pts.
5. Inga Birna Erlingsdottir (Iceland) - 3046 pts.
6. Iciar Tatay (Spain) - 3280 pts.
7. Caroline Stevenson (Canada) - 3415 pts.
8. Kim Krause (USA) - 4146 pts.
9. Rosa Freitag (Brazil) - 5621 pts.
10. Dusita Nasuriyawong (Thailand) - retired.
Statements from the three winners:
First place: Stephanie Bouisson (France). "I
did the GS Trophy France qualifier event last May, and some time
after this, my friends told me to try to apply for the chance of a
place at this new women's qualifying event. I thought 'why not'
because I wanted to experience South Africa. I was really surprised
to get through and was really looking forward to a great new
adventure, making new friends and riding over here. To have
actually won the qualifying event is incredible for me and I'm very
proud to be representing all the lady riders around the world at
the International GS Trophy in Thailand next year."
Second place: Amy Harburg (Australia). "I was
so excited about coming here for this qualifying event. I had high
expectations for myself, but it was hard to gauge what the other
girls would be like until we were all together. But my expectations
were definitely exceeded by the time we've spent in South Africa
and to actually make the team is amazing for me. I can't wait to go
to Thailand and show BMW enthusiasts worldwide how these GS bikes
can be ridden and what we can all do together. My team-mates are
incredible so I can't wait to be part of the first ever women's
team with them."
Third place: Morag Campbell (South Africa). "My
expectations coming to this GS Trophy female qualifying event were
to have fun and enjoy myself, but I didn't realise just how much I
would learn in the process. It's been a whirlwind of people
offering their help, sharing their knowledge and helping me
experience a real sense of community that's just been amazing. I
think I'm still in shock really to have made it to the final three.
There are five months ahead of us now before
the main event so I'll be learning new skills on the GS and keeping
in touch with Stephanie and Amy. It's going to be awesome!"
For further information about the BMW Motorrad GS Trophy go
to
www.gstrophy.com
#gstrophy
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