Motorsport: Birch nails it in enduro hell

Chris Birch (right) celebrates winning the Red Bull Romaniacs 4 day extreme endurance motorcycle event. Many riders didn't make it to the finish line. Photo / Supplied

After narrowly missing out last year when he finished second, Kiwi Chris Birch nailed his first Red Bull Romaniacs title this week, cementing his position as one of the world's very best extreme-enduro riders.

The event, held on some of the worst terrain in Romania, is regarded as the extreme of the extreme off-road motorcycle competitions.

This year's Romaniacs has improved its reputation as the toughest enduro rally in the world once again, with fewer than half of the original 165 competitors finishing the race after five days riding through the Karpates.

In the pro-class, only 10 riders from the 21 who started crossed the finish line in Sibiu.

"Considering all my technical woes during the past few days, I really didn't even think that I would finish the race - let alone win it. I'm really happy," Birch said. Heavy rain dominated, making the difficult almost impossible, and the event was regarded as the toughest Romaniacs of all time by the competitors.

"Romaniacs starts with a technical prologue on the first day and then it's four days of about seven or eight hours on the bike with only three 15-minute stops," said Birch's wife, Monica, who had been following his progress.

"You get hills you can barely walk up and down, let alone ride up or down. You have to be really fit because a lot of the time you have to push your bike along. You also have to be mentally strong to cope with four days of wind, cold and rain and still be able to concentrate on riding.

"You start in the dark at 6am and it's everything you wouldn't want. It's insane. It's not something you can just jump on a bike and do."