Viva Las Vegas!
Las Vegas is used to strange sights, but the parade of 50 Tangiers Orange Discoverys down the Strip on their way to Moab caused quite a sensation. The teams left the neon of Las Vegas and set a course for Snow Canyon State Park. As the competitors were finishing a day of running and mountain biking, Snow Canyon lived up to its name, and snow began to fall. The next morning, the red sandstone and black lava cliffs were covered in 4 inches of snow. By noon the snow had melted, and under a bright blue sky, the visual spectacle of the Coral Pink Sand Dunes and the rock formations in Kodachrome Basin had many competitors speechless. The visual feast continued as the teams traveled to Lake Powell. From the comfort of their Discoverys, they relaxed aching muscles and marveled at the scenery of Capitol Reef National Park.
The competitors' driving skills were put to the test on the rocks of Moab. Teams had to drive pre-set routes to the hunters. Along the way course marshals were on hand to issue five-minute time penalties whenever the vehicle's bodywork touched the rocks. For these athletes used to traveling at full speed, the slow, careful driving required for successful rockcrawling must have been a frustrating affair. But for some, like Turkey's Cuneyt Gazioglu, four-wheeling in Moab was the highlight of the Challenge.
After three weeks of competition, four men--Rudi Thoelen from Belgium, Franck Salgues from France, Chris Perry from Arabia, and Cuneyt Gazioglu from Turkey--all had an equal shot of winning the inaugural Land Rover G4 Challenge. It would all be decided on the final day of competition. The one who crossed the finish line first and slapped his hand on the hood of his Range Rover would be the winner.
For the separator, as the final event was dubbed, competitors began with a 100-foot rappel, then a mountain-bike race to the Colorado River, where they jumped in their kayaks for a paddle upstream. Wet and aching, they next faced a brain-teaser matrix exercise. Completing the matrix released the keys of a Land Rover, which the team had to drive through a 4x4 obstacle course. The competitors then faced a long climb up a rope and a sprint to the finish line.
F-16 fighter pilot Rudi Thoelen crossed the finish line first. The Team Spirit Award, voted by all the competitors, went to Tim Pickering of the UK. His upbeat attitude, sense of humor, and eagerness to help made him a winner.
Does 'wheeling 4,000 miles around the world, mixed with some running, mountain biking, kayaking, climbing and rappelling sound interesting? If you think you have what it takes, stay tuned; the Land Rover G4 Challenge will return in two years. Better start getting in shape.
More than 4 inches of snow fell overnight in Utah, reminding competitors of the snow and cold they faced three weeks earlier in New York. | 
By noon the snow that blanketed Utah overnight had melted, creating floods in arroyos that were supposed to be dry. |
F-16 fighter pilot Rudi Thoelen (seated) wins the first Land Rover G4 Challenge. The Team Spirit Award, voted by all the competitors, went to the UK's Tim Pickering (standing). | |