Land Rover G4 Challenge
Into Laos
24.04.2006
Under brooding skies, punctuated by forks of lightning, with a hot wind whipping up a distant sandstorm, the Range Rover Sport vehicles were ferried across the muscular, chocolate coloured river by ferry. Awaiting them were hammer and sickle flags, old American army trucks and two weeks of mental and physical challenges in the dramatic landscape of jungle covered mountains.
For the competitors, this was the real beginning of the Challenge. ‘The Mekong is the true starting line,’ said French competitor Jean-Baptiste Calais. ‘It’s the end of just travelling, the end of the highway and the start of racing.’
Michael Tsaoutos of Greece, who only found out he was competing a fortnight ago, after the country’s first choice quit due to work commitments, said he was finally starting to believe he had arrived. ‘We don’t know what it will be like, and with a forecast of rain, the going could get really tough. The first main junction marked in our Laos road book wasn’t even paved.’
As Alina McMaster of Australia sorted out her equipment and tents, she shared his uncertainty. ‘It’s a mix of excitement and apprehension,’ she said. ‘Now each day will be a test of fitness, skill and strategy.’
But the competitors’ mixed emotions were mixed with awe at the dramatic scenery. They approached the Mekong through the Jurassic region of Thailand, once populated by dinosaurs but now revealing a mix of pineapple fields, thickly forested hills, water buffalo and monks in mustard coloured robes.
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