Fourth Edition of the GS Challenge, 2010: The cream of the cropriders this year!
On September 17, 18 and 19th, the Fourth Edition of the GS Challenge took place at La Pourvoirie du Lac Beauregard. There were close to 50 enthusiastic riderspresent and ready to go.
The sun is up, we have motivated men and women and we have challenges for all levels of riders. What more could we ask for? One thing we have been excited to notice over the past four years has been the quality of competitors.’’ mentioned Charles Gref, President of Moto Internationale | BMW Motorrad.
The challenge started in Montreal and headed towards L’Ascension where the riders travelled on gravel roads and through wooded trails. Each team chose a challenge level: Panoramic (beginner), Challenge (intermediate) and Double Diamond (advance). We were pleased to note the participation of six female riders. This indicates a rise in popularity of dual-usage riding among women which means nothing but good things for sport!
On Friday morning, participants met at Moto Internationale to receive armbands, instructions and to meet their team mates and fellow competitors. Everyone left at 9:00am headed towards Mont-Tremblant for lunch. Afterwards, everyone rode for another 40 kms before entering some skill-testing challenges and loose-rock riding which is difficult for even a seasoned GS rider! Everyone arrived at La Pourvoirie around 5:00pm, grinning from ear to ear and ready to eat!
On Saturday morning, everyone awoke at 6h30am! After breakfast it was off to the GS Ability Beauregard Challenge. This consisted of low speed maneuvers in different types of terrain. This challenge determined the six best riders: three from the 800cc-999cc class and three from the 1000cc and higher class. These riders continued to the final round on Sunday morning where the winner was awarded the chance to represent Canada at the GS Trophy Cup in South Africa alongside Dominique Lemaire and Pat Horan.
After the excitement of the morning there was a BBQ lunch and then another 80kms of wooded trail riding. The participants encountered muddy conditions due to rain in the afternoon. This did not prevent anyone from arriving at the chalet, bikes and riders both in need of a good cleaning! The six finalists were then named and we don’t need to tell you that they were the first to bed that night!
Finally, on Sunday morning it was time for the big finale. You could feel the excitement in the air. Charles Gref altered the skill-testing sections to make them more difficult for the finalists. Off they went! First exercise: Emergency braking on a gravel road
where speed was monitored by radar. Two of the six competitors successfully completed this exercise which indicates the difficulty involved with this part of the competition. The exercises were very technical and the riders met the challenge with gusto. With competitors so evenly matched the outcome was anyone’s guess. Finally Marc-André Octeau was crowned the winner of the 2010 edition of the GS Challenge (for personal reasons, Marc-André Octeau cannot be present at the event. Brian Kiely will be part of the team).
After lunch, the participants headed home feeling proud of their involvement in this event and happy to have spent a wonderful weekend with others who share the same passion. Thank you to everyone involved and a special thanks to ours sponsors, BMW Motorrad Canada and Moto Internationale.
FINALISTS AND WINNING TEAMS
Grand individual winner of the GS Ability Beauregard Challenge : Marc-André Octeau
Double Diamond team 1st place :
Marc-André Octeau
Brian Kiely
Luc Gingras
Double Diamond team 2nd place :
Marc Chartrand
Sylvain Pouliot
Jean-François Simard
Challenge team 1st place :
Claude Auchu
Yves Gagné
Benoît Mercier
Panoramique team 1st place :
Benoît Lawlor
Éric Leblanc
Julie Bolduc