outright in Italy in 2000, 2001 and 2003.
Merriman is rarely listed as a New Zealander in
the results, but he is fiercely proud of his Kiwi
roots.
“Yes, I’m a New Zealander, of course but it’s
just that most of the reports done about me are
by people who don’t know,” he said during an
interview with BikesportNZ.com in 2006.
“I raced under an Italian licence over there
because that was the only way I could be eligible
for the Italian nationals. Some know me as
Australian because I lived there for many years,
have Australian citizenship and an Australian
passport, in addition to my New Zealand one,
and I have represented Australia at the ISDE.
“The Australians have been very good to me
and they are serious about sending teams to the
ISDE. New Zealand is not so organised.
“If New Zealand would commit to sending a
team to the ISDE every year, then I would have
raced for them, but they don’t. I’ve been adopted
by Australia.”
Merriman was inducted into the Australian
Motorcycling Hall of Fame this year. He remains
active these days racing mountain-bikes and has
twice won the over-40s title in Australia.
His father, Warrick, speaking from Tauranga,
said, “He rides about 700 kilometres every week.
Birch celebrated a
remarkable three consecutive
wins at the Roof of Africa
26 KIWI RIDER
He’s crazy.”
It makes you dizzy just thinking about what
Stefan Merriman has achieved and he was
obviously an inspiration to fellow Kiwis such as
Chris Birch and Paul Whibley who have trodden
many of the same pathways.
CHRIS BIRCH
Aucklander Birch (although he now lives in
Thames) has multiple New Zealand enduro
championship titles to his credit, as well as
winning the enduro nationals in South Africa in
2011.
He celebrated a remarkable three consecutive
wins at the stand-alone Roof of Africa extreme
enduro in Lesotho, although perhaps his winning
of the Red Bull Romaniacs in Romania in 2010
would stand as his greatest achievement.
He has competed successfully in the world’s
biggest enduro races, event such as Erzberg, Red
Bull Last Man Standing, Hells Gate and the Dakar
Rally.
He has won also gold and silver medals at the
ISDE (in Brazil, New Zealand and Greece) and the
38-year-old Birch now spends his time focussed
on extreme enduro racing or conducting his
popular training schools at venues all around the
world.