Club of the Month
Club Land Rover Ireland’s Charity Challenge proves to be an eventful weekend
It’s the turn of Club Land Rover Ireland and its annual charity challenge: plenty of craic to be had, to be sure
It’s fair to say that a serious amount of craic was had at the Club Land Rover Ireland Charity Challenge held over a weekend at the end of August.
County Wicklow, or the Garden of Ireland as it’s otherwise known, was the location for this, the inaugural Club Land Rover Ireland Charity Challenge, and the Green Adventure Activity Centre in Tinahely, was the host.
The charity event, which drew Land Rover teams in from all over Ireland, was staged over two days. Day one saw a five-stage navigation challenge and day two an optional play day on the Green Adventure off-road course.
The first day’s Navigation Challenge was set over a course of nearly 100 kms and was made up of three tarmac stages and two forestry stages. Teams were given road packs, which utilised various methods of navigation and tasks along the route.
The challenge proved to be a serious test of stamina and determination with less than half of those that started the challenge managing to finish the course within the allotted time. This attrition rate stood as a testament to the skills of our prize winners. The evening prize-giving was followed by a thorough debrief and live music until the wee hours.
The morning after followed the night before and Sunday was a day for good old-fashioned mud plugging. A morning briefing signalled the start of the off-roading as novices and experts alike took on the many challenges to varied degrees of success.
It seemed that a serious case of red mist descended, blurring the vision and decisionmaking of even the more experienced drivers. The result was inevitable: Defenders, Range Rovers, Discoverys and Series fell like a line of skittles. The damage assessment was extensive, with numerous halfshafts, a couple of driveshafts and a selection of body panels, all suffering at the hands of their so-called careful owners. Participants were reminded that the off-roading was just for fun and was not part of the scoring. Unfortunately, the health warning went unheeded.
Even so, the event was a huge success raising in excess of 10,000 Euros for the Irish Hospice Foundation. Like every event the success was all down to the generous assistance and support of our sponsors, our volunteers and the club members.
We are all now looking forward to the second annual CLRI Charity Challenge on of August 25-26, 2018. Hopefully, participants will be a little kinder to their vehicles. Get the dates in your diary now.
More details can be found on the Facebook page CLRI Charity Challenge.