Land Rover G4 Challenge Starts Recruitment

Rob Howard / 07.01.2008

Adventure sports challenges don’t come much bigger than the Land Rover G4 Challenge – the last event in May 2006 spanned almost a month of competition in the jungles of Thailand, the city of Rio de Janeiro and finished on the high altitude salt deserts of Bolivia.

The event is a combination of extreme driving (it effectively replaced the Camel Trophy) and adventure racing, with an international element as competitors represent their country, as well as racing for a big prize. (The 2006 winner Martin Dreyer of South Africa won a new Range Rover.)

As yet there is little information on the 2008/2009 G4 Challenge, but there is now a G4 website up where would-be competitors can register their interest in taking part.

The site has a trailer, brief information on the challenge and news on a partnership with the Red Cross and Red Crescent, aimed at leaving “a positive legacy by acting as a platform to generate funds and assist life-changing humanitarian projects around the world.” There is also a partnership with ClimateCare to fully CO2 off-set the challenge.

There will once again be a series of tough national selections to find competitors from 18 nationalities, though there is no news yet on which nationalities they will be. (In 2006 this depended on which of Land Rover’s national representatives chose to take part, and the USA was a notable absence.)

There is a one very significant change however, and it that will favour adventure racers – the next competition will be for mixed pairs, not for solo competitors. The pair will have their own Land Rover vehicle for the challenge and they will be racing to win a Range Rover again, but this time for their national Red Cross or Red Crescent Association, not for themselves.

The big question of course is where and when the G4 Challenge will take place, but so far the only news is that it will be in Asia in early 2009, so there is plenty of scope for an exciting final destination.

Dreyer is a fan of the new format commenting; “The last Challenge was an amazing experience and it was a fantastic feeling to win after such a tough competition against competitors from all around the world. I am sure that the new format, with national teams and more female competitors, will make the next Challenge even more exciting.”

If you want to try and follow in his footsteps the way to begin is by visiting www.landroverg4challenge.com and registering your interest to take part. It could be the start of the biggest adventure of your life ...