BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy 2020 revealed: Kia Ora – Welcome to New Zealand!

Registration for qualifying events soon to be opened.

Munich. “Destination Paradise” might easily be the motto of the seventh edition of the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy which will hit ground in early 2020. Last night at 7 pm CET BMW Motorrad revealed that the next Int. GS Trophy will take place in New Zealand – just another dream destination for most adventure riders worldwide. The participating nations now face a busy time, hosting their qualifiers and selecting their teams for this exciting and unique global adventure competition. 18 international teams, plus, as in the 2016 and 2018 editions, an international female contingent will be selected during the next months.

Confirmed teams for 2020:

Australia
China
Female Team(s)
France
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Malaysia/Philippines
Mexico
Middle East
Nordic (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland)
North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt)
Russia
South Africa
South Korea
Thailand
UK
USA

BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy 2020 Oceania. After the long days on the vast Mongolian Steppe of the 2018 Central Asia edition, New Zealand is going to provide a very different riding environment and experience for the qualifying GS riders, as Ralf Rodepeter, Head of Marketing and Product Management BMW Motorrad explains: “After Tunisia, Southern Africa, Patagonia, Canada, Thailand and most recently Mongolia, BMW Motorrad were again looking for a location that offers perfect ‘GS terrain’. Lots of legal off-road kilometres are required, with demanding route profiles, passing through fascinating landscapes and with plenty of exotic flair. New Zealand is a perfect fit on those terms. The variety of astounding landscapes from sea to volcanoes to high-altitude mountains, combined with the most beautiful vegetation and the rich Maori culture provide the perfect setting for what we think will be one of the most exciting Int. GS Trophies ever held.”

About New Zealand. New Zealand is located 1500 km east of Australia, in the Southern Ocean. There are two main islands, North and South, plus a multitude of smaller islands around the coastline. The combined landmass is approximately 270,000 sq km, which is slightly larger than say the UK, yet the population is just 4.9 million compared to the UK’s 66 million.

Taking into account New Zealand’s significant urban populations in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch this makes for a very sparsely populated countryside and many regions of New Zealand can be termed wilderness.

Geologically, New Zealand is positioned over the Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates so this leads to the presence of many (active) volcanoes, geothermal regions plus an alpine mountain range that reaches higher than 3700 metres. Seismic activity occurs periodically.

Positioned so remotely, much of New Zealand’s flora and fauna have evolved in isolation over millennia so are unique to this country. This includes the Kiwi bird, NZ’s national icon, which quietly forages under the dense canopy of the island’s native forests – which in turn are thousands of years old (with Kauri, Rimu and Totara trees which in days past were valued for boat and house building but today, like the Kiwi, are protected species).

The variation in the landscape is startling and the riders can expect to experience everything from forests to deserts to mountains probably all on the same day. Visiting in the antipodean summertime temperatures should be similar to that of central Europe in August.

New Zealand is also rich in culture and that of the indigenous Maori people – with strong principles of community and stunning arts and crafts – is particularly unique and valued.

About the Intl. GS Trophy. The International GS Trophy is a celebration of the spirit of the BMW GS motorcycle, bringing together those elements of leisure, adventure and challenge that this bike engenders.

The New Zealand 2020 event is the seventh edition of the International GS Trophy, the previous editions took place in Central Asia (Mongolia) in 2018, South East Asia (Thailand) in 2016, North America (Canada) in 2014, South America (Chile, Argentina) in 2012, South Africa (SA, Swaziland, North Africa (Tunisia) in 2008. This edition will see 19 teams – maybe even 20 – competing, meaning 54-57 riders, from around the world.

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. Equally the GS Trophy is a celebration of culture and nature, the riders learning about and understanding the peoples and the terrains of the regions they encounter. So the successful team will be respectful of the environment, skillful and sympathetic with their machinery and understanding of team-mates.

Follow the event. In forthcoming press releases BMW Motorrad will provide details on the GS motorcycles that will be used, the equipment the participants will receive to help them through the event, and more information on the participating countries and teams selected.

During the event BMW Motorrad will provide a multi-channel media experience, with outputs ranging from social media feeds to regular written press releases to professionally shot and edited video synopses of each day, full 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 gstrophy.com.