19 Jan 2017

Motor bike rider, Vincent Crosbie who has just returned from Dakar Rally has undoubtedly made Botswana proud by making history and became the first Motswana to cross the Dakar Rally finishing line.

This was said by Botswana Investment Trade Centre (BITC) chief executive officer  Letsebe Sejoe in a news conference on Wednesday.

He said Crosbie has sold the country well, adding that some of the harsh criticism on the country was that despite its achievements in many fronts, Botswana  remained unknown globally.

“Therefore there is no doubt that Crosbie has turned that page, now a lot of people know that there is a small country in the middle of the desert in the southern part of Africa called Botswana,” he said.

Sejoe further said all the sponsors had used close to P1 million collectively to help the rider accomplish his dream, adding that the sponsorship was the best investment because it has produced results.

However, Crosbie said Dakar Rally was by far the biggest adventure of his life, given that it was nerve wrecking, exciting, daunting, and there was a million emotions that were running through his mind.

He said he was happy he managed to accomplish his mission of making it to the finish line, and finished 36 th out of 167 riders.

“The experience was amazing, the places we rode on was phenomenal, I have never been that high in the mountains on motor bike before, having looking down and thinking to myself that Botswana must be be somewhere down there,” he said.

Crosbie further said to ride in sub-zero temperatures was something he was not used to, adding that he only pushed extra harder when it was hot given that he trained for hot conditions.

Crosbie was ranked the sixth fastest rookie in the race and overall he was number one in Africa and 36 in the world.

Some of the companies that sponsored Crosbie include amongst others, Botswana Investment Trade Centre, Wesbank, Botswana Tourism, O3, Naledi Motors, Puma Energy and Alpha Direct. BOPA