DJ runners take on heat and hills for 2010 trek

Extremely hot weather - as high as 36 degrees in Estcourt - added to the challenge of riding motorcycles, each at least 74 years old, from Durban to Johannesburg on the 2010 DJ Rally over March 12/13.

The heat affected both motorcycles and riders but 84 of the original 116 starters made it to the James Hall Transport Museum in La Rochelle.

The winner was Kevin Robertson on a 1936 Velocette MSS, who also won the category for riders nominated to run at an average speed of 60km/h. Robertson's total error for being late or early at the various timing checkpoints was only 184 seconds.

Second lowest error of 252 seconds was achieved by Adrian and Gerald Hollis aboard a 1935 Sunbeam Lion and sidecar - but they didn't qualify for the main prizes as these can only be won by solo riders.

Next was Gavin Walton on a 1936 AJS 9 with an error of 268 seconds, which was also the best performance by a Class C (70km/h) competitor, 16 seconds better Martin Davis and his 1929 Ariel Model A.

The oldest riders in the race, Stewart Cunninghame (1930 Norton International) and Peter Dahl (1922 Royal Enfield 180 with a sidecar transporting passenger Laura Dahl), will each turn 89 this year. Both finished and the Dahls also had the lowest error of those competitors who had nominated a 50km/h average speed.

The oldest motorcycle on the run, a 1909 Humber Pedal Cycle ridden by Rory Nossiter, completed the route (albeit with a fair amount of pedalling), as did a similar 1911 Humber ridden by Hans Coertse.

An even older machine, Andrew Mather's 1908 Triumph, was entered but he was unable to get it registered by the kwaZulu-Natal traffic in time so rode a 1929 BSA Sloper into 12th place instead instead.

The DJ Rally was staged for the first time in 1913 as a handicap race (it was legal to race on public roads in those days!) to give motorcycles with smaller engines a chance against the big machines - some of which started as much as five hours behind the small bikes.

The last DJ road race was staged in 1936, after which the authorities stepped in and banned racing on public roads due to the higher speeds being reached on the much-improved road network and the increasing volumes of traffic.

In 1970 the DJ was revived a regularity run using the roads that made up the route of the original race and open only to motorcycles old enough to have competed in the last DJ in 1936.