---

Survivors

Pyro / 29.11.2008

The surviving 24 competitors at the Land Rover G4 Challenge UK selection included some notable big names. Byron Lewis, Andy Grieve and Suzy Madge, all previous G4 International selection participants, Bruce Duncan and Nick Gracie, members of the Aberdeen Asset Management team just back from success Down Under, and Campbell Walsh, kayak slalom Olympian and Commonwealth Games medal winner. All of the athletes remaining continued to be pushed for the afternoon, First Aid, campcraft, more driving, GPS work, strategy and so on, until the late hours of the night when they sloped off to their tents, only to be kept awake by the ducks in the nearby pond for the majority of the night. The experience of a full-on adventure race was almost complete.

Friday at 8:30, reveille woke the weary from their slumbers for a quick breakfast (“I can still taste beans and sausage two hours later� “I had one spoonful of porridge, I couldn’t manage anything more�. Aren’t early morning AR conversations delightful?). They started the way they meant to go on, with a run over the Malverns to the Iron-Age fort of British Camp. Once back, they again split into their teams and headed on to the various activities. Kayaking and raft building in a local quarry were one of the first events, the racers undertaking both a straight kayak sprint and also a slalom (Campbell Walsh playing to his strength did very well here). The ‘team’ of journalists and Land Rover employees who are also going through the event took an unfortunate swim on the raft build, but the kayakers waiting nearby gave them a hand out onto a pontoon.

Another driving exercise saw the teams winching and driving, and also the journalists sliding sideways across a field, very gracefully. Bridge building came next, building a bridge capable of taking their vehicle, more nerve-wracking than you’d think, and then driving over and into a stream and along, testing out not only their driving skills but also their common sense. With the course marked out with toy light sabres only just over the width of the Land Rovers, a winning tip was to flick in your wing mirrors. One of the Mountain Biking stages also caused its own upsets, a simple two lap race around some of the tracks in the nearby Deer Park, with visibility hindered somewhat by fog. This made not only seeing the signage difficult for those who came to this rotation in the light, but also caused issues with the headlamps reflecting back for those who came here in the dark. But, this is a selection event, and no-one had been expecting an easy trot to the finish. Despite the odd grumble out-of-earshot of any race staff, candidate relations continued to be very good spirited.

Back at Eastnor Castle itself, a number of mechanical tasks tested the racers (minimal) knowledge of engine parts, interrupted briefly by a flying visit from one of the G4 Ambassadors, Olympic gold medallist Victoria Pendleton - and then the hardest event of all: 5 Minutes of Fame.

The competitors were each made to make a short ’piece’ to illustrate themselves, and unfortunately, being outdoorsy types, the talk often turned to excrement (literally). Nappy changing, jokes about contraception, talks about paddling in Turkey, yoga and poetry recitals were all rolled out to entertain the audience and show off their characters, something most racers aren’t at all used to - no other race in the UK scores it’s ‘selectees’ on their teamworking and character to the same degree as their driving and physical skills.

The racers then retired to their tents, wondering whether they’d be woken for a night event, and determined to make up for the previous sleepless night.

See All Stories On This Race