Welcome to the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy Central Asia 2018.

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15th February 2018
Media Information

Welcome to the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy Central Asia 2018.

The GS Trophy is heading to Mongolia in June 2018 for what will be its biggest challenge yet.

With three new teams joining the competition (Australia, India and a second International Female Team) and now with eight days of competition, to allow for the huge distances, the sixth BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy, the Central Asia 2018 edition, is set to break all records.

For 2018, Mongolia will offer much more than any challenge before as the riders will venture from mountains to the desert via the vast Mongolian Steppe (high-altitude grasslands). The scale, for this edition, is truly epic. Unquestionably this is the kind of experience that adventure riders dream about.

The country is of course best known for having been the seat of power for the Mongolian Empire when in the 13th century Genghis Khan created the biggest contiguous empire ever known to history. Today, some 30% of the population are still said to be following the centuries-old nomadic horse culture, crossing the steppe each season to graze their livestock, principally yaks and camels.

The plateau sits at an altitude of around 1000-1500m above sea level and this will keep the temperatures cooler, the participants should expect anything between frosty 0ºC nights through to 25ºC during the day. Conditions can nonetheless get pretty extreme – high winds and dust storms are not uncommon. And while Mongolia is a surprisingly sunny country (averaging around 250 sunny days a year) summer is the rainy season!

All this means the GS riders will need to be ready to deal with a whole range of terrain types as they’ll travel across mountains, through canyons, across the steppe and into desert. So that’s rock, gravel, grasses, probably mud and finally sand, with all kinds of elevations and gradients to contend with.

Team UK.

After their great success in the previous edition, Team UK are out for glory once again and are determined to push for victory. The team is made up of Craig Keyworth, Peter Twigg and Peter Urqhart who finished in the top three at the 2017 GS Trophy Qualifier hosted by BMW Off Road Skills in Wales. Since being selected, the trio have been meeting regularly to train together to be as prepared as possible. Before heading off to Mongolia, Team UK will have an exclusive training session led by Dakar legend Simon Pavey.

About the GS Trophy.

The GS Trophy is a celebration of the spirit of the BMW GS motorcycle, bringing together leisure, adventure and challenge. The Central Asia 2018 event is the sixth edition of the GS Trophy, the previous editions took place in South East Asia (Thailand) in 2016, North America (Canada) in 2014, South America (Chile, Argentina) in 2012, South Africa (SA, Swaziland, Mozambique) in 2010 and North Africa (Tunisia) in 2008. This edition will see 18 teams competing, comprising 54 riders.

The event is not a race but a team competition, pitching the GS-riding international contingent against each other in a series of challenges – and not all involve riding. With the competitors camped nightly in a bivouac, the event also fosters a sense of brotherhood, sisterhood – and camaraderie. The successful team will be respectful of their environment, sympathetic to their machinery and understanding of team-mates.

The event begins on June 1, 2018 when the competitors will arrive at the event HQ in Ulaanbataar for a programme of rider briefings, bike allocations and media meetings.

The competition itself will start on June 3 and ends on June 10.

Follow the GS Trophy.

BMW Motorrad will provide a multi-channel media experience during the event, details of which will be released closer to the time. For now you can find out more about the event and the teams at the dedicated website: www.gstrophy.com.

For more information on BMW Motorrad products, or to find your local BMW Motorrad Retailer, visit www.bmw-motorrad.co.uk or call 0800 777 155.




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Welcome to Mongolia.

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Local traffic.

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Pit Stop.

 


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