Biking community reignites rider’s dream
A 17 year old's bike burst into flames during a race in Harding earlier this year and the biking community rallied together to help raise funds to purchase a new one.
THE cross country biking community gathered to support a local 17-year-old rider who believed his dreams went up in smoke when his bike burst into flames during a race in Harding earlier this year.
Marius van der Bank, a biking enthusiast and Grade 11 pupil at Gelofte Skool, described the day of the incident as hot and dry and remembered reaching the summit of a rock along the course, where he fell off his bike. “The bike and I fell and I went to pick it back up but saw that petrol was leaking but couldn’t see where from. I started pulling the bike closer to me and when I picked it up, I fell over and into a thick bush. By the time I was on my feet again, the tank of the bike was on fire,” said Marius.
Not knowing what caused the fire, the brave rider ran towards his bike to pull it free from the dry grass to minimise the risk of a veld fire. “The bushes still caught alight. It was then I became very scared as I thought it might just explode and could only stand back in shock,” he said.
Marius said he watched in horror as his pride and joy burnt and melted in front of him. He described it as watching his dreams burn and disappear right before his eyes.The bike was not insured and it was too costly for him to purchase another. A Facebook post went up shortly after the incident in an attempt to rally the biking community to support the teen and his love for racing.
To boost the money already accumulated, a fundraiser bike ride was hosted in Ixopo. With this, and the general donations, R26 000 was raised and RBS Yamaha significantly dropped the price of one of their demo bikes to help the family afford another bike. The van der Bank family added in an extra R4 000 and were able to purchase Marius a YZ250F 2014 demo model, similar to the bike he lost.
“I am totally speechless and excited,” said Marius when he received his new bike. “I was about to quit racing and now I can continue my passion and follow my dreams. I am so thankful to everyone that helped make this happen. Thank you to Peter Wilkins of Yamaha SA, Klint Mills for starting the Facebook drive,Gareth Jones from RBS Yamaha, Nick Louw and everyone that contributed towards this amazing bike,” said the humbled rider.
