2024 GS Trophy Day 3 – Challenging the Omaruru

Team USA’s third day began with a total disqualification from the overall standings. Kirk Graydon, our competitor from South Carolina, began feeling ill during day two, making it into camp on fumes and eventually getting an IV and nausea medication to help relieve his symptoms. With no appetite and a shot from the doc to help him sleep, Graydon slowly started feeling better, but elected not to continue the GS Trophy alongside his teammates the following day due to safety concerns for himself and others.

The first special challenge of the day was the Spitzkoppe Insta360 challenge right behind the camping area. Using a compass, the team had to navigate distances and headings toward an object tucked away between the granite boulders of Spitzkoppe – all while holding an Insta360 camera on a selfie stick. The elder statesmen of Team USA, Scott Acheson, quickly got his bearings with the analog contraption as the team’s South African ex-pat counted off the meters toward the team’s goal meanwhile, the MRP held the selfie stick to document the challenge in 360 degrees. Before long, the guys had found the hidden object, taken a selfie with it, and sprinted back over the granite outcrops to the start in order to make the best time. Of course, the team wouldn’t rank due to being disqualified from the competition, but they still gave it 100%. Many of the teams didn’t manage to find the object at all.

 Blasting out of camp, the crew set off toward the morning’s next challenge: the Camel Thorn Tree challenge. Named after the Camel Thorn Tree or Acacia erioloba, the tree gets its name from the kameelperd who feed from it. Not camels at all, kameelperd is Afrikaans for giraffe, who use their specialized lips and tongue to eat the bipinnate leaves from the tree while avoiding the thorns. Thorns are common on many trees in the area where the 2024 GS Trophy is held, and they’re tough enough and strong enough to puncture an adventure tire. It’s so common in fact, that BMW dreamt up a challenge – perhaps to drive the point home of not parking under such trees – to include a sand pit, running, and fixing a punctured tire in the quickest time possible.

Next up was a challenge of a different sort. The entire crew would face 18-plus miles of the vast wide-open Omaruru riverbed which hadn’t seen water in more than a year. With varying levels of sand experience amongst the challengers, this proved to have a massive effect on some of the teams’ Trophy experience. Team USA and South Korea managed the section with only a few low-speed drops and bobbles on their way to lunch, and eventually, the next challenge. Others weren’t so lucky as the sand gobbled up the hopes from both male and female teams from Benelux, in addition to a swath of less critical crashes.

At the Omaruru Metzeler Challenge, the teams would participate in a timed enduro-style course racing around churned up sand, through a rock portion, and back down into the sand, needing to high five the next participant so they could tackle the course as well. All three riders had to make it through the challenge and would be docked for dabs, tip overs, and going out of bounds. The MRP challenged the course first, having a couple of tip overs in the sand and then choosing the wrong line up into the rocks which took more time to correct. After eventually making it to the finish line, Acheson took off, nearly clearing the course aside from a fumble making his way back to the finish line. With a little teamwork, he made his way back to the start so Billy could get on the throttle. After a clean run of the track, Team USA finished the challenge.

Team USA’s South Korean ride mates had a few issues, one of which saw a bike falling on its side on the rock portion of the track, disabling the kickstand switch rendering the bike inoperable. The team didn’t give up and pushed the bike down the rock and into the deep sand. After a few solid attempts left them only 15 or 20 feet from the start, the tired South Korean team was helped by members from the US and Mexico per the Marshal’s leeway. Together, the bike crossed the line and the final rider took off around the track. It was yet another beautiful moment of international teamwork and after the ride back to camp, the US and South Korean team enjoyed a hearty dinner together in the evening. Despite the language barrier, they managed to communicate with broken English and Google Translate. The Korean team mentioned the team work in the last stage was truly heartwarming, and to the US, the feeling was mutual.