Land Rover G4 Challenge International Selection
The Long Road to the G4 ‘World Tour’
Rob Howard / 09.01.2006
A journey that will take one lucky racer to the jungles of S.E. Asia and the mountains of South America, began in Solihull last November at the UK selection event for the Land Rover G4 Challenge. There, 3 contestants were chosen, and soon they will meet up with other national candidates from around the world for a second eliminator, after which just one participant from each competing nation will go onto the G4 Challenge itself.For British racers the journey began at the UK national selections on November 20th, when 48 competitors from around the country achieved their first task by locating the map co-ordinates and arriving at Land Rover's ‘Home of the Legend’ at the company's Solihull factory. What followed was a grueling weekend of physical and mental challenges, designed to find the competitor who has what it takes to win the Land Rover G4 Challenge in April.
The 12 women and 36 men selected from thousands of applicants were brimming with expectation and tension as they were thrown into a demanding morning of activities designed to thoroughly test them in a range of mental and physical areas.
After five hours of activities with names like Spine Tingler, Ladder Rack and Jungle Fever, the 48 exhausted, cold and battered competitors were lined up in front of a huge world map depicting the Challenge route through Thailand, Laos, Brazil and Bolivia and the group was unceremoniously cut to 24.
There was no rest for the remaining 24 competitors as they embarked a new range of 4x4 driving, navigation, initiative and physical assessments, taking them well into the night. Then, cold and tired, they were woken from their tents at 4.30am and dragged back out into the night for a group problem solving exercise involving the rescue of a submerged Land Rover Defender from the Solihull factory's frozen lake.See All Event Posts
