Team South Africa all set for the International GS Trophy South East Asia.

Midrand/Chaing Mai. It is all systems go for the International GS Trophy South East Asia, which starts on Sunday, 28 February 2016. Team South Africa is one of the 19 teams competing for the coveted first place at one of the world’s leading motorcycle endurance race taking place near Chaing Mai province in Thailand.

 This past Thursday, Byron Coetsee, John Harris and Charl Moolman, the three men who make up team South Africa embarked on their journey from Johannesburg to Thailand where they will start the epic week long endurance race.

 Earlier this month the team participated in a grueling training camp in Lesotho as final preparation for the event. “The camp served as an opportunity for the team to get to know each other better and form an understanding of how each member can best contribute to the team’s effort in Thailand. The time sweating together whilst negotiating obstacles at their limits was intended to cement team spirit and a strong bond that could endure the challenges they will endure at the actual event,” explains journalist Stefan Boschoff, the fourth member of the team who is responsible for reporting the team’s progress.

 South Africa has a good track record at the International GS Trophy. In 2014, Team South Africa beat 14 teams to finish second. ““The calibre of South African riders is world class. The International GS Trophy is not an easy competition, but the South African teams that have participated have always shown that they are up to the challenge. I am confident of team South Africa’s success at the 2016 International GS Trophy and I along with the rest of the BMW Motorrad community wish them the best,” says Alexander Baraka, General Manager of BMW Motorrad South Africa.

South Africa also features in the first ever International Women’s team participating at the International GS Trophy. Morag Campbell from Johannesburg is one of three women who will make GS Trophy history when they compete in the up to now largely male dominated competition.

Competitors in the fifth BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy will ride a fleet of identical specially-prepared 2016 BMW R 1200 GS motorcycles - 114 in total – 100 of which will be R 1200 GS versions for the competitors, journalists, organizers and special guests, with 14 R 1200 GS Adventure models for the marshals.

Preparing the machines for the GS competition required only a small number of modifications. All the GS bikes are equipped with an aluminum enduro engine guard, steel crash bars, valve cover guards, headlight guard, wider enduro footrests, adjustable footbrake lever and a safety screw for the oil filler neck. All bikes will run on Metzeler Karoo 2 tires.

The GS Trophy begins and ends near Thailand’s Chiang Mai province.

In order to follow the competition BMW Motorrad has devised a full range of multi-media coverage of the event so that GS fans from all over the world will be able to read about, watch and even participate (through a photographic competition) in the event.

GS Trophy photo competition.

The interactive photo competition made its debut at the 2010 event and proved so popular, with over 20,000 community members voting, that it has become a permanent fixture.

So, on days two and four of the GS Trophy 2016 the teams themselves will be photographing all aspects of their adventure. The subject matter for the competition is entirely open, it might be an action shot of team-mates, or a spectacular landscape, maybe a unique aspect of local life.

Each team will then submit their best photo at the end of both days, to be posted on the GS Trophy website www.gstrophy.com, while voting will be accessed through www.bmw-motorrad.com/voting.

As before, the photos are posted without credits, so fans vote for the best photo, not their favourite team.

Voting time will be limited to just 18 hours on each occasion as the results will need to be fed back into the competition and to be synchronized with the time difference between Munich and Chiang Mai.

Photo competition 1

Voting opens February 29, 16:00 (CEST)

Voting closes March 1, 10:00 (CEST)

 Photo competition 2

Voting opens March 2, 16:00 (CEST)

Voting closes March 3, 10:00 (CEST)

 The teams will be awarded points toward their overall competition score in accordance with their performance in the votes.

Daily updates to the media.

Journalists and media organisations are invited to follow the GS Trophy 2016 and to find free access to GS Trophy resources – which during the event will be updated daily with news stories and photos – through the dedicated BMW Group Press Club facility which can be found at http://www.press.bmwgroup.com/za.html.

A detailed Media Guide to the GS Trophy 2016 will be issued on February 27.

More ways to follow the GS Trophy.

Through www.gstrophy.com BMW Motorrad has created an internet destination where GS fans will be able to find all the background information that they could want on the event and its participants (past and present). The site will be updated each day with a review of the action by way of words, images and video clips.

The event’s excitement will also be relayed with much more information of a more informal kind via BMW Motorrad’s social media sources:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bmwmotorrad (BMWMotorradSA)

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bmwmotorrad (@BMWMotorradSA - hashtag #gstrophy)

Youtube: www.youtube.com/bmwmotorrad (BMWMotorradSA)

Instagram: www.instagram.com/bmwmotorrad

Watch out for more information on the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy 2016 – brought to you directly from Southeast Asia.

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