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Development worker on Enduro: Sergio Morariu
Development worker on enduro
Sergio Morariu the enduro maniac
He is German by passport, he learned to ride enduro in Peru, he has his roots in Romania. Sergio Morariu is a versatile person. And the inventor of the Enduromania, the hundredth edition of which will take place in 2010. A portrait.
03/17/2010
At the end of the war, the Iron Curtain had also closed on Romania and the Banat, Sergios at that time still predominantly German-speaking home region around the city of Timisoara (Timisoara). Afterwards his family had nothing more to laugh about there: The father, a Romanian landowner who was involved in several companies, was expropriated by the new rulers in 1948 and sent to prison as a capitalist and class enemy without trial. After his release he was allowed to work – as a poor night watchman. From one day to the next the family of the top ten thousand had been pushed to the edge of the already poor society. Sergio’s mother, a German, was a language teacher. Instead of money, the only thing she could give her son was education.
As a boy, Sergio began to play sports. “That was less of a hobby”, he knows about it today, “but more motivated by the prospect of better nutrition and clothing.” Apparently a strong drive, because Sergio, now a young civil engineer, made it up to the Romanian national champion in judo. Which ultimately made the life possible for him that he would later lead. Because as a successful athlete he was also allowed to get out of the gloomy realm of Nicolai Ceausescu, who came to power in Romania in 1967. In 1970 Sergio finally used a sports trip to flee via Austria to West Germany.
“My mother raised me cosmopolitan and multilingual in her sense to be open to the world”, a mentality that ran counter to the realities of the country at the time. “Emigration and the escape from terror had been the main theme in the family for years”, Sergio explains his decision at the time.
In Germany, the engineer who had meanwhile also had a doctorate was hired by a construction company. She sent him to Peru to draw up energy supply plans on her behalf. Up until then, the motorcycle theme hadn’t played a role for the now over 30-year-old. It was only in the vastness of the South American highlands that Sergio discovered the charm and advantages of enduro riding. He also took a sporty approach to this topic, which was new to him, and quickly found like-minded people among American colleagues and Peruvian friends.
His first own machine was a bitchy two-stroke Husqvarna, which in 1979 gave way to a Yamaha YZ 400, a tough two-stroke crosser. In the following year, the now enthusiastic off-roader switched to one of the first Suzuki DR 400s. The experience with these machines resulted in a rather instrumental approach to the motorcycle itself and a great appreciation of inconspicuous Japanese technology: “The motorcycle as an object doesn’t fascinate me at all”, Today he freely confesses. “I can’t and don’t want to screw.” But drive.
And so it happened that Sergio Morariu, when he returned to Frankfurt after 15 years in Latin America, had the title of Peruvian Enduro Champion with him. Today he owns an old Honda XR 400 and a Beta Alp 200, a touristic trial machine.
After the end of the dictatorship of “Conductors” Ceausescu moved the five-language-speaking exiled Romanians back to his old homeland in 1990. With astonishing energy and rousing vigor, he created a completely new form of economic support: he systematically brought enduro riders into the country and, with Enduromania, developed a kind of gentle motorcycle tourism, in which the discovery of the western Carpathians by means of enduro (or quad) is in the foreground . The concept, implemented for the first time in 1995, has proven itself. So good that Sergio will start the 100th edition of the Enduromania in June this year. He is now 67 years old and still has big plans. In 2010, for the first time, electric motorcycles will be on board in Romania. In cooperation with the mechanical engineering faculty of Heidelberg University, Morariu is in contact with the EU in order to establish a Europe-wide pilot project for electric vehicles in nature tourism. For Morariu, it is a human right to be able to move vehicles away from asphalt roads.
His credo: “With all the commitment, fun should not be neglected. That helps against doggedness.”
Enduromania information
Since 1995, the Enduromania has developed from an insider tip to a popular off-road event for everyone. It takes place every year on several set dates in the southern Carpathians. You ride your own motorcycle (street legal, off-road, no other restrictions) or quad / ATV in small groups of at least three participants, who have detailed maps and route suggestions. The difference to guided tours or pure enduro sport is: There are no fixed routes or speed limits, only control points that are approached. Each group can determine their own pace, route and level of difficulty.
The drivable routes are coordinated with the local traffic, forest and environmental authorities. Designated nature reserves are not used. You will spend the night either in pensions or in your own tent. You can choose between breakfast, board and half-board, the prices are moderate. Arrival and departure are individual.
New since 2005 is the Long-Distance-Enduromania, a kind of orientation drive through Romania to the Black Sea and back. It takes place when there is a corresponding request.
Detailed information and registration on the Internet at www.enduromania.net or by calling 069/6702652.
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