Branch in sight of sport's holy grail
Kabelo Boranabi | Tuesday October 22, 2024 09:42
In 2019, Branch made his debut at the Dakar Rally and finished 13th whilst also walking away with the best rookie award. In the same period, he finished second and ninth at the Merzouga Rally and Rallye du Maroc respectively in the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC). Despite these efforts, he was handed the Chairman’s Award. Ahead of the 2024 edition of the Botswana Sports Awards, Branch had improved his performance on the bike with Africa’s first-ever second-place finish in the Dakar Rally and had two stage wins to show. He had earlier finished fourth, the highest ever by an African competitor in the World Championship.
‘The Kalahari Ferrari’ was in a mean mood this season as he sped to his first ever and Africa’s World Championship title. Branch has traversed over 20, 000km in five countries and four continents to claim the world title. Branch finished this year's championship with 88 points from five rounds and nearly secured a spot inside the top five all-time standings following a heavily contested season. From a second-place finish in the first round, the Dakar Rally, Branch ascended to the top of the championship rankings after yet another second-place finish in the second round, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. He maintained his place in the lead after two fifth-place finishes at the BP Ultimate Rally Raid in Portugal and Desafio Ruta 40 in Argentina.
His 88 points were just ahead of British Sam Sunderland's 85 points in his 2022 triumph. Sunderland, however, tops the all-time standings with 110 points from the 2019 win. Meanwhile, Austrian, Matthias Walkner won with 90 points in 2015 and 105 in 2021, Pablo Quintanilla of Chile had 96 points for his triumphs in 2016 whilst a year later, he won with 100 points. In 2023, Argentinian, Luciano Benavides secured the win with 100 points. Branch, however, has moved third since the inception of the Rally GP, a section for professional riders in 2022. The 38-year-old made a significant improvement from the 2023 W2RC’s fourth-place finish while he had crossed the line 13th on his debut season in the world championship in 2022. It was a good season on the bike for Branch who over five rounds has accumulated 13 stage wins, his highest ever in his three seasons in the world championship. He finished just behind Adrien van Beveren who has 14 stage wins, the most in the season. Branch’s factory team, Hero Motorsport, is beaming with confidence after securing its first ever individual champion but missed the top sport in the team standings, as they finished second to Honda.
The Sportsperson of the Year award has turned into a holy grail hunt for Branch who has been beaten by athletics on two occasions, with track sensation, Letsile Tebogo piping him to the recent accolade. The track will once again be Branch’s toughest competition through the World Athletics’ exciting prospect, Tebogo. The 21-year-old won Botswana’s first ever Olympic gold medal in 44 years at the Paris Games held in August. It was also Africa’s ever gold medal in the 200m men’s race in the history of the Olympics. Tebogo also finished second in the Diamond League in the 200m and he also brought down the national 100m record. He played a defining role in the men’s 4x400m relay team's silver medal finish at the Olympics as he single-handedly helped Team Botswana secure two medals at the games, the highest tally in a single Olympic Games for the team since 1980. Public opinion could be a factor in the decision making and Tebogo’s chances could be further boosted by the fact that athletics is more popular than motorsport in the local landscape.