TRAVERSE Issue 17 - April 2020 | Page 9

A SLICE OF HEAVEN 2020 BMW MOTORRAD INTERNATIONAL TROPHY E ight days, two and half thousand kilometres, and the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy teams reached the adventure capital of the Pacific, perhaps even the world; Queenstown, New Zealand. With what is regarded as one of the toughest manufac- turer backed skills and riding events, it was a Southern Hemisphere team that claimed victory in the Southern Hemisphere. In taking victory, South Africa were award- ed their third title in a row. As with most GS Trophy’s, the best was left until the last day, testing riders and teams like never before as they set off across New Zealand’s highest road; the some- times infamous Nevis Road with its 24 river crossings along the 70-kilometre route. The 2020 GS Trophy had started over a week earlier in the Maori homelands of Rotorua, the early start seeing them ride through native forests and into the pastoral high country before heading down to the Pacific Ocean to camp at Hawke’s Bay. Riding F850GS every rider was to witness the beauty of New Zealand, stunning forests, river following gravel roads, unique eco systems and fauna found nowhere TRAVERSE 9