Bringing his 2017 Hard Enduro season to a highly-positive close, Graham Jarvis has placed third overall at the 50th running of the Roof of Africa event in Lesotho, southern Africa.
With the traditional ‘Round the Houses’ race and 40-kilometre time trial kicking things off at the three-day long event, Jarvis completed a strong opening day. Roof of Africa winner in 2016, in placing fourth Jarvis ensured a positive start in his bid for a fifth event win.
Day two – the first full offroad day of the race – saw Graham place third. Completing a largely mistake free day, he finished 10-minutes down on winner Wade Young. Hoping that the third and final day would deliver increasingly technical trails, Jarvis was again unable to match the pace of the young South African riders ahead of him.
With the faster terrain better suited to his younger rivals Graham nevertheless gave his all to successfully complete the final day and in doing so end what has been another hugely successful season with yet another well-deserved podium result.
Graham Jarvis: “The 50th Roof of Africa’s been a great event. It wasn’t to be for me and a fifth win, but I’m still pleased with a podium result. Things weren’t quite as tough I’d hoped they’d be, but it’s still been great to end the year with a strong result. I’m happy enough with the way the first day went – I knew the riding would be fast, it always is on day one. Things were pretty fast throughout day two, and similar again on the third and last day. I didn’t do too much wrong really on either day, it’s just Wade and Travis were faster. Ten minutes behind with one day to go wasn’t ideal, but like I said I found it hard to go fast where the grass was long and there was no clear track to follow. It’s been a long, tough season, but it’s been a good one.”
Results — 2017 Roof of Africa
1. Wade Young (Sherco) 10:41:28
2. Travis Teasdale (KTM) 10:52:34
3. Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna) 11:04:06