2014 BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy Announced

Fri, 20 Dec 2013

After holding three events in the southern hemisphere, the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy will go north in September 2014, to Canada. Billed as the GS riders’ Olympics, the biennial competition pits teams representing different countries against one another in a number of challenges testing their riding skills. Previous competitions had competitors riding the F800GS but for 2014, the GS Trophy will switch to the liquid-cooled R1200GS.

The first GS Trophy in 2008 took place in Tunisia and featured five teams. In 2010, the competition took place in southern Africa with the field doubling to ten countries. The most recent GS Trophy took place in Chile and Argentina in 2012 with 15 teams taking part.

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The 2014 GS Trophy already has 15 teams lined up, representing Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Russia, Austria/Switzerland, Central Eastern Europe, the USA, Mexico, Latin America, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Japan and the host nation, Canada. Competitors will be selected in national qualification events, and many teams have already selected their teams. The U.S. qualifier took place in September in Greer, S.C.

The route will take riders in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Competitors will be riding between Vancouver and Calgary which means they will also be riding through the Rocky Mountains.

“It’s fantastic that the GS Trophy is coming to Canada in 2014,” says Norm Wells, head of BMW Motorrad Canada. “We already entered a team back in 2010 and 2012. And after South Africa, Canada is the second country to run GS Challenges on the east and west coast at national level since as long ago as 2007. Now we’re really looking forward to September 2014 when we’ll be able to introduce participants to a small part of our country and give them the best possible impression of Canada with carefully selected routes and challenges.”

[Source: BMW]

By Dennis Chung