KIWI ENDURO LEGEND
BIRCH WINS HUSKY
HARD ADVENTURE
WORDS & PHOTOS: ANDY MCGECHAN, BIKESPORTNZ.COM
It was an orange crush as Birch led a KTM 1-2-3-4 over
the finish line of the annual Husqvarna Hard Adventure
Enduro near Tokoroa.
T
he finish line was dominated by the
distinctive orange-coloured motorcycles
as Thames rider Chris Birch rode to
victory on his KTM 300EXC, leading a KTM
300EXC 1-2-3-4 past the chequered flag.
Runner-up, finishing nearly three minutes
behind Birch, was Hellensville’s Tom Buxton
(KTM 300EXC), with Wainuiomata’s Jake
Whitaker (KTM 300EXC) completing the
podium, while New Plymouth’s Tony Parker
(KTM 300EXC) crossed the line in fourth,
actually missing out on a podium placement
by a whopping 25 minutes.
This was the fourth annual running of the
event, again attracting the country’s elite dirt
bike riders to the Central North Island venue,
and it featured three days of gruelling race
action, starting with a prologue event in the
SATCO logging attachments yard in Tokoroa
on Friday afternoon.
108 KIWI RIDER
Here riders were challenged by a man-
made obstacle course, the results from this
preliminary tussle determining the starting
order for the racing in nearby forestry land
the following day.
Birch won the prologue, although he said he
“was very lucky to do so”.
“I nearly went over the handlebars at the
first obstacle,” said the 39-year-old father-of-
one.
“I made my way through the course and
ended up beating Jake (Whitaker) by just a
wheel width at the end.”
Bronze, Silver and Gold level courses were
offered, designed to cater for all the various
skill levels, and Kiwi international Birch was in
his element as he led the 18-rider gold level
contingent into action on Saturday.
The Kiwi international – who has remarkably
recorded major wins in dozens of different