The Livingstone Cup: The ultimate adventure race (11-16 Jun '17)

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Camelman

Race Dog
Joined
Jan 25, 2012
Messages
620
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Location
Cape Town, South Africa
Bike
KTM 690 Adventure
I have been contemplating this for a while. When Amageza started it was for big bikes. The distances were long and the terrain less technical. Now that the Amageza Rallye is part of the FIM Scene the terrain is technical and the bikes smaller. So how can we get the big boys to be part of this fun.

So I thought, Cannon-Ball... on a road-book.

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In my head I see a bunch of riders lined up on a salt pan. Their bikes are loaded with everything they may need for 4000km of gravel and off-road. They are assembled in teams, some two, some four. They have a navigator with a road-book, a mechanic and other riders in the team, all loaded with various parts to ensure they get to the end. They have tents and sleeping bags, some without tents, planning to sacrifice luxury for maneuverability. Some riders are on big 1200cc bikes, others on 600cc-1000cc bikes. They line up on the pan, on foot, line abreast. They are ready to run. Some with their helmets on, some in barely any kit. They are ready to hoof it on foot. Their bikes are parked 100m in the distance. They can just see their road-book lying next to a flag with their number displayed, 50m ahead. Deadly silence...The gun-shot sounds and the fastest rider of each team runs to fetch the road-book. It's his responsibility to navigate his team. The team leader is urging his slower team mates on. They get to their bikes. Some teams were clever and got a seasoned Amageza Rallye rider as their navigator. He is busy loading the road-book into the reader, while his team-mates are starting up their bikes. He fumbles a little, the paper is jammed. Next to him the navigator from the other team has managed to load his road-book. He shouts at his team-mates and they roar off over the pan, following the navigator flat taps!

The first day passes by in a flash. They ride from sun-rise to sun-set. A team was lucky and sun-set found them in a small town or village where they can overnight. Team XXX riders were faster, they are ahead and somewhere in the open. They pitch camp and eat whatever they have on them. Early night the navigator marks the road-book. The computer wiz is working the route on the GPS, finding the best path. The first time he has time to do so since getting the new road-book a couple of hours back. The team leader receives a SMS on the Satellite phone. They are in the lead. The team closest to them had to wait at the marshal point to serve a time penalty for speeding, and had no credit in their Time-Bank. The team leader smiles. He's team rode their bikes a thousand kilometers to get to the start. His team has 500 seconds in credit he can use should they need it to negate a time penalty. He shuts off his headlight. His last thought is of the 3100 kilometers remaining, and what he would buy with his share of the R200 000 first prize.

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While driving the thousands of k's for the Amageza Rallye, I jotted down a couple of basics. It has now already morphed into a 5 page document. Having opened discussions with Motorsport South Africa and FIM Africa the basics has been formed.

To my knowledge this has never been tried world-wide before, but being South African, we seldom let that stand in our way, do we! Personally I absolutely LOVE IT! So if you like it, and can afford the R15 000 entry fee, please vote above. If enough of you seem genuinely interested, I will make it happen.

PLEASE... Before you get into the 'why is it so expensive', please take into account that a Mc Donalds burger is also expensive when you look at what is in there. But do you grab the manager and ask him why? Nope. I think not so. As with anything there are costs involved. Some you can see like the burger patty and bun. Others like the shop, the staff, the accountants, bank charges, etc you cannot see. That does not mean it does not exist, you just don't know about it! I don't understand why a loaf of bread costs R20, yet I still buy it. I also don't grab the auntie at the bread counter and ask her how can she sell a Albany bread for R20! If I can't afford it, I stay quiet and walk past to the R11 Checkers bread.  ;D

Here are the basics below. Remember to vote. Your vote will decide if this will become a reality. If none of you want to do it, then Bill the Bong and I will do it. I'm sure I'll beat him over 100 meters.  ;D
[list type=decimal]
[*]This is a team event. Teams must consist of 2 or more members.
[*]The objective of the event is to complete a set course in the least time while following the road-book scroll provided
[*]To receive a finishers medal, team members are required to do 100% of the route on the motorcycle they started with.
[*]Each entrant will be notified 12 hours prior to the start of the event, of the location of the registration point by means of a SMS with coordinates.
[*]Every team must nominate their starting point with a GPS location.
[*]Team members will receive time in their Time-Vault at the rate of 1 km=30 sec for riding to the start. This may be used to pay a time-penalty during the event and may be transferred between team members. Entrants must have their SPOT tracker on for the duration and hand in their GP at registration for a time credit.
[*]The start is Le  Man style. Team members will receive their road-book 50 meters from their bike. You have to get to your road book, then to your bike. You can opt to mark it, or not. But the clock is ticking.
[*]Each rider is required to have a Garmin GPS with a USB port. Any GPS may be used. It is the responsibility of the entrant to ensure his/ her GPS is able to be mounted as a external drive on any Windows Computer for transfer of the entrant track.
[*]Any other navigation device or computer may be used to assist with navigation.
[*]Each team is required to have one Satellite phone.
[*]Each entrant is required to have medical cover. (MSA medical cover is being investigated)
[*]Each rider is required to have a SPOT Gen 3 satellite tracker. Each tracker is required to be pre-registered on the Amageza Racing Tracking system via a third-party service provider. (This can be your own device or rented.)
[*]Riders are allowed any mechanical support any time, any where.
[*]The prize purse is calculated as R3 500 per entrant. So 100% of the purse at 100 entries is R350 000.
[*]The winning team will receive 20% of the purse. So if the entry fee is R10 000, and their is 100 entrants, the winning team will receive R200 000.
[*]The runners-up will receive 10% of the total entry fee's. So if the entry fee is R10 000, and their is 100 entrants, the runners-up team will receive R100 000.
[*]The third placed team will receive 5% of the total entry fee's. So if the entry fee is R10 000, and their is 100 entrants, the third placed team will receive R50 000.
[*]The minimum rider count is 55 riders. In the event of the the count being less than this by 1 April 2017, the event will be cancelled and all entry fee's will be refunded.
[/list]

Oh, and we may use any or all of the SADC countries. So have a passport and required bike papers ready. This is going to be epic!! You are going to do 4000km to a unknown location, on a unknown route. How's that for a treasure hunt!  >:D
 

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