MORE than 120 vintage motorbikes had registered for the 2014
edition of the Durban-Johannesburg Commemorative Run, which ends in Johanesburg
today.
When it was first run in 1913, the run quickly gained popularity
for the sheer endurance it demanded from the riders, with most of the route
being over dirt roads.
Pietermaritzburg’s oldest petrolhead, Pieter Swanepoel (91) told
Weekend
Witness how he had used to bunk class at College to watch the DJ riders
sweep by from a handy knoll on Fields Hill. He said back then it was a flat-out
race with enough thrills and spills to inspire a teenager.
The DJ Run website, promoted by the Vintage and Veteran Club,
recalls how the race was a test of man and machine, although on many occasion
“fence wire or bailing twine were added along the way to keep the machines of
the time together”.
Doug Cruickshank, who is in his 70s, did not use any bailing twine
in restoring to its former glory the 1934 Triumph that was first ridden in the
DJ in that same year. He will this year ride the old Triumph on its 21st DJ and
looks forward to again “laugh all the way” from the start in Hillcrest to the
end in Johannesburg. — WWR.
