KNYSNA NEWS - On Thursday 25th October, you are invited to Brenton Community Hall in Knysna to share the realisation of a dream come true when Gerry van der Byl takes us on his motorbike during the 2018 Dakar Rally.
Gerry was born in Cape Town in 1967, matriculated in Johannesburg in 1985, then obtained a Electronic Engineering degree from RAU. Riding motorbikes was always part of his life growing up, but racing didn’t feature until 1998.
Gerry raced the South African Off-Road circuit 1998-2006, but never won a regional or national title. Life took over, and in 2015 Gerry started riding and racing again, crashed out of the 2015 Amageza Rally in Southern Africa, but finished the 2016 Amageza Rally. This led to participating in the Merzouga Rally in Morocco, racing across the Sahara Desert. Successfully finishing this event meant that Gerry qualified to race the Dakar Rally.
For Gerry, participating in the Dakar Rally has been a dream for 20 years, but he never actually believed he would, with thoughts like “not good enough’, “not strong enough”, and “too old” - This is the most dangerous and difficult motorsport event in the world. But after qualifying, the dream suddenly became a goal.
Gerry was invited to join the BAS Dakar team for 2018, and raced 9000km over 15 gruelling days, across three countries to become the 14th, and the oldest South African to reach the finish of the Dakar Rally on a motorbike.
Join the Knysna branch of U3A at the Brenton on Sea Community Hall and experience the excitement of this challenge from the comfort of your seats. Doors open at 9am when tea, coffee and biscuits will be served. The meeting starts promptly at 10am. All are welcome. Members pay R5 and visitors R10 towards the hire of the Hall.
Enquiries Judy Dixon 072 390 6667.
Read a related article: Knysna local realises Dakar dream
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