For the first time in the history of the Windhoek Moto Cross Club, this active association will host an Enduro-series during the year 2006. This first event will be sponsored by Messrs Waldschmidt Poultry Farm.

For those who aren’t familiar with this sport, here some explanations:

Motocross riders, who see themselves as the "though guys", often dis-respectfully call Enduro riders "blind-riders", because an Enduro bike is equipped with head- and tail lights to enable night races, which are very popular in Scandinavia for example.

The term "Enduro" comes from the English endurance and is the overall description for offroad-motorsport. Not speed, but the riders endurance and the bike’s reliability are the deciding factors in this sport.

It all started a really long time ago, namely in the year 1903, when the British Motorbike Riders Association held a 1 000 mile long cross-country ride. Since 1909 the annual "The Scottish" took place in the Scottish Highlands and since 1912 a "six-days-trial" was held, out of which over the years a FIM-Championship developed. The "Six-day’s" is still the greatest challenge for man and machine and it is carried out annually on alternating continents.

The bikes are by no means "Moto Cross bikes with lamps" – the development went seperate ways. Longer fork-spring travels , higher fenders, greater ground clearance, different gearing and different sprocket wheels lead to the specialisation in the offroad field. With these bikes the terms Sportsenduro and Hardenduro are also common.

Traditionally an Enduro takes place on a circuit that is between 20 and 80 kilometres long and completed three or four times. The organiser sets a time limit and if the specified time is exceeded, "penalty time" comes into action. To determine a clear winner, special trials/assessment-trials take place on the track, for example the assessed time on a Moto Cross track. The achieved times in such a special trial are added and together with the overall time make up the final result. The start takes place in intervals of one minute, with a maximum of 3 riders at the start simultaneously. In Germany for example it is very popular to host Hour-Enduros, whereby the aim is to complete as many rounds as possible in a given time. The time can vary between 2 to 12 hours, depending on the organiser. The 12-hour Enduro’s are often very exciting, since pitstops have to be taken into account, for refuelling!

Excitement is surely given, even if the sport is not exactly spectator-friendly. One sees the riders only sporadically and can only guess what is expected of man and machine outthere on the rough terrain.

The first run in this series takes place on the 18th of March on the premisses of the Waldschmidt farm, near Döbra. Start and finish will be on the club-owned Gallina Moto Cross track. The terrain is ideal, with gravel tracks, steep hill climbs and even steeper downhill passages. Due to the good rainy season, the river passages are all muddy which guarantees the participants a real Enduro-orgy. This contest functions at the same time as an assessment race for the participants at this year’s AMU-Championship, which takes place on the 13th of May in Zimbabwe.

There will be the following Classes participating on Saturday: Class 1: Motorcycles up to 200cc (2-stroke) and up to 250cc (4-stroke)