New Zealand's Chris Birch on Saturday completed three days and a total of 19 grueling hours of extreme Enduro riding to secure a back to back win in the legendary Roof of Africa Hard Enduro race in the tiny Southern African kingdom of Lesotho. Birch, also a Romaniacs winner said this year's race would go down as "the toughest Roof ever….. 19 hours of riding in seriously tough terrain with 30 degree heat really pushed me to the edge of my endurance." Birch said he went out hard on the first day in the traditional ‘Round the Houses', around the roads of the capital Maseru, which decides the starting positions for the time trial and this secured him a good advantage for the two big days. On the long and hard first day that started at 6:00 a.m. Birch said he battled his way through more than nine hours of what he described as "some of the ugliest terrain imaginable" including a lot of low gear riding over goat paths and rocks and all in grueling heat that saw only seven riders make it to the final line. Organizers then reduced the ride on the second day but Birch made what could have been a fatal mistake in day two and had to back track some 30 km at the start of his ride. He then went into total autopilot and crashed through the pain and exhaustion barriers to mount his attach back through the pack to claim the win, saying "I'm absolutely stoked to have won the Roof of Africa… I'm bruised, bent and exhausted but am still really happy. Preliminary Top 10 Overall: 1. Chris Birch, New Zealand, Ktm, 18:25,24 2. Jade Gutzeit, South Africa 18:43,34 3. Andreas Lettenbichler, Germany, Husqvarna,19:05,57 4. Paul Bolton, Britain, Ktm, 19:12,56 7. Darryl Curtis, South Africa, 19:41,52