Designed to give ordinary folk a chance to experience the thrill and excitement of adventure racing, Land Rover South Africa modeled its G4 Spirit of Adventure on the international Land Rover G4 Challenge - and brought 100 days of adventure to 64 four-man teams who competed throughout the country culminating in an exciting final, winner takes all, competition at Sun City on Saturday 17th November 2006.

Sharon Davis travelled in the convoy of support teams and reports back ...

06h30: We meet at Sun City's Pool Deck for breakfast. Those not taking part are groggy from an early weekend wake-up, but the competitors are running on a keen nervous energy - some have done their warm-ups before breakfast. The excitement and speculation about the day's events make focusing on the sumptuous spread before us impossible - besides, we meet iin 45 minutes at the Land Rovers to travel in convoy to the first event of the day.

07h15: It is overcast and warm in the thorny bushveld. We are all assigned to a driver and slip into the comfortable leather seats of various Land Rover Discovery vehicles. 7h30 and we're off … navigating to the first co-ordinates for the day - 29 degrees 49.946 minutes south; 30 degrees, 53.518 minutes east.

The four teams of four who have made it to the finals are split into teams of two. One pair endures a "rough ride" helicopter flight while the other pair goes to the top of the world's longest zip line (two kilometres) armed with two balls each that they have to drop onto a target to score points in the first task of the day.

We walk to the bulls eye target of white stones in the barren veld. There is an ominous hum coming from the zip line and then the first team comes into view, travelling at a speed of up to 120 km/h, they take aim and drop their balls - a different colour for each team - and in a blink they're past.

A short wait; a hum on the line; another team comes into focus, takes aim and four balls rain down - some more on target than others. Team three, team four … the judges add up the scores and the spectators rush back to the vehicles to head off to the next task which is all about precision driving.

"Each team has to locate 12 location markers and touch them with a lance attached to the front of their vehicle, two team members must be outside the vehicle at all times and the drivers may not exceed 20 km/h as recorded by the GPS," reads the race instruction manual.

We wait near the finish line … the sun is now shining brightly and we're advised to drink lots of water to stay hydrated. A few shouts herald the arrival of the first team. Two team members come running ahead to find the markers and guide the driver to touch the target with the lance. The marshall gives a thumbs-up and they're off to the next marker, almost finished.

The second team takes a wrong turn and has to back track, but they make up for some lost time with a neat line-up onto the marker. Team three's runners come past and guide their driver swiftly to the target, and team four rumbles past, finding the marker without a fuss.

The judges add the scores, and deduct points for speeding and for any scrapes on the vehicles - one team incurred penalties for losing a plastic back wheel arch fender.

09h05: Two events down and we're heading for the bridge event which works as a relay. One member abseils down from the bridge and ascends back up the rope, the next member sets off to follow a mountain bike trail, then passes the baton to the third team member who has to locate four GPS control points, in sequence, before handing over to the last member of the team who has to kayak along the river to a beacon and return. Then the team has to run in together to hit the finish button.

Two teams compete at a time - by the looks of things the abseiling was the easy part. Ascending the rope proved more difficult for some … the mountain bike trail was bumpy but do-able, the orienteering fine for all but one team which discovered, too late, that the co-ordinates on their GPS were not set; and the final kayaking was completed comfortably.

10h32: We're off again, navigating to the next task and putting the Discovery through some muddy patches and up a few steep inclines until we reach an eroded valley. The teams are given a series of distances and bearings from which they have to locate ten points - and are soon seen running, two teams at a time, up and down the hills.

11h16: That task is complete and we're heading off to the next location, ready for Savanna Speed, where each team has to drive as fast as possible through ten two-pole "gates" - with penalties for hitting a gate. Some dust flew in this 4x4 high-speed driving event.

12h07: The racing is all over and we're heading for our lunch spot - navigating again. The heavens open up with a tremendous downpour during lunch, and the rain continuesd intermittently for the rest of the day.

13h30: Lunch is over and we're heading out, past white rhino, giraffe and elephant, to the water event at the lake. Periodic torrential downpours, with one patch of small hail, make this a gruelling relay event. The first team member was dropped off by helicopter, they then had to swim to a jet ski, and complete a circuit on the jet ski before picking up the next team member, who was dropped off by the next fly-past of the helicopter. Other team members had to complete a swimming and kayaking circuit before points were awarded for the fastest times.

14h52: The water event is over, the sun is out and we're changing into dry clothes before heading off to the golf challenge. Each team member has to play one of four holes for points - but not long after they tee off, lightning (followed by more rain) stops play - and we're off the Valley of the Waves for the final, winner takes all, relay competition.

Throughout the G4 Spirit of Adventure the teams were named after the four countries visited during the 2006 G4 Challenge. Namely: Laos, Thailand, Bolivia and Brazil. At this stage team Laos was in first place, followed by teams Bolivia and Thailand, with team Brazil in last place. As a result, team Laos set off ahead of the other competitors and abseiled down that wall. Teams Bolivia and Thailand slipped down their ropes one minute later, followed by team Brazil a minute after that.

They swam to the inflated water wheel for the hydro bronking competition and then on to shore, passing the baton to the next team member who had to kayak around the lazy river. Then there was a climbing wall to be negotiated before the last team member had to orienteer their way through the forest and find seven plaques before heading towards the finish line. But just before the finish line the teams had to place a replica of each plaque in the order they were set out before the whole team had to race to the waiting Land Rover and place their hand on the bonnet to claim victory.

Team Laos maintained and improved upon their lead, and team Brazil fell five minutes behind the leaders, struggling particularly with the stubborn water wheel in the hydro bronking … but it was Ingrid Uys from team Brazil who was the first to splash-land at the bottom of the water slide and run towards her team waiting at the finish line.

Teams Bolivia and Thailand were hot on her heels and it was a nail biting finish as the exhausted participants battled to hold their concentration and put the plaques in the correct order.

In an unexpected upset finish, Team Brazil (Fanus Cronje, Dirk van Niekerk, Phil Uys and Ingrid Uys from Cape Town) touched the bonnet just ahead of team Bolivia, followed by a dejected team Thailand and a very disappointed team Laos.

Team Brazil, the winners from Cape Town

To see more photographs please click here and then on the Land Rover G4 etc folder