The 2014 Roof of Africa is to be held in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho and starts on the 4th of December. It is considered one of the absolute toughest off-road endurance events in the world. This means it attracts the best of the Xtreme Enduro competitors to take on the challenge.
This year the race was fully subscribed for local racers and only a few places were left for international participants. Some of the huge names in racing will be participating including Graham Jarvis who will be defending his 2013 Roof of Africa crown.
The riders of Roof of Africa will have to battle altitudes from 1,500 meters above sea level in the lowland part of the course, up to 3,000 meters in the mountain route. Not only will it be the altitude that the riders have to endure, but also the course itself, comprising of sand and rock trails with hard surfaces and donkey passes through the mountains, which are known to be treacherous, steep and rocky, interspersed with deep rivers that will need to be crossed weather depending.
There are three classes for the bikes that take part. Gold; a 425km course, silver; a 380km course, and bronze; a 300km route, with the route difficulty decreasing accordingly. The event is normally won by a 250cc or 300cc class machine, but any type of motorcycle may be used for the competition.
The type of race that the Roof of Africa is means that competitors can get lost in very remote locations quite easily. Therefore, race organisers have decided to equip each rider with a YB3 Tracker throughout the race. The trackers will collect and transmit data, such as the riders speed, direction and GPS co-ordinates, which will be collected and transmitted via the Iridium satellite network to our race player, which will be updated every fifteen minutes.
For more information on this epic race please visit the Roof of Africa website.