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Not for the Faint of Heart Rover competition challenges earth’s toughest landscapes – follow it online! Remember Kilroy, the mythical soldier of World War II who showed up everywhere? No matter where you went back then, from Bastogne or Anzio to Burma or Saipan, you would see scrawled on the sides of walls, jeeps, tanks and outhouses the words, “Kilroy was here.” Land Rovers are like Kilroy. No matter where you go – Patagonia, East Africa, Western Australia or Sonoma County, Calif. – you’ll see Rovers. They’re everywhere mostly because they can go everywhere. That ability has inspired a fanatical following worldwide. So if you’re a Rover fan and looking for some jollies, starting March 30 you may want to begin following the Land Rover G4 Challenge, a four-week test of driving skills and endurance that will take teams from 16 nations to three continents. The first stage of the competition will begin in New York City and then move north through the Catskill, Adirondack, Green and White mountains.
The next leg will begin in Cape Town, South Africa, and move through the rugged desert and mountain lands of Africa’s southwesternmost corner. Then it will be on to the Pilabra, an extremely remote desert landscape in Western Australia. Just to mix things up, the Australian competition will end with an urban challenge in Sydney, 2,000 miles to the east. Finally the competitors will view in the western United States, vying in some of the most beautiful 4x4 country in the world: Monument Valley and Grand Canyon. The G4 Challenge will end in Las Vegas. One of the interesting wrinkles of the competition is that each stage will feature a different Land Rover version. In all, four models – Freelanders, Defenders, Range Rovers and Discoveries – will be used. Twenty-nine-year-old Nancy Olson, a U.S. Marine Corps officer, will be the American driver. Olson emerged as the top American dog after a five-day elimination competition in January in Eastnor, Herefordshire, UK. To follow the competition online, go to their web site. |
Winter,
2003
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