2013 Northwest Challenge
Celebrating 25 years of the Northwest Challenge!
Where: North Okanagan/Shuswap, BC
When: October 4 – 6, 2013
The Northwest Challenge is an opportunity for Land Rover owners to do some heavy off-roading with a competitive edge. This event offers the off-roading enthusiast driving and navigational challenges best not attempted by the faint of heart. You may be asked to cross a river three feet deep, winch up an impossible-to-drive vertical rock face, navigate hundreds of miles of roads with only minimal instructions or perform a special task, sometimes technical and sometimes physical. Even though we try and make it as challenging as possible and sometimes impossible, we still want everyone to have fun. Usually everyone receives a token or award for participating! So, read-on, sign-up and participate as your vehicle was originally intended too.
In 1989 the first Northwest Challenge was held in Oregon, organized by Doug Shipman. The group of Land Rovers braved the wet weather and headed out into old snow conditions, which made for slow progress. Although there were no prizes for this wet run the Northwest Challenge has evolved over the last 14 years and has even been featured in Land Rover Owner, Land Rover Monthly and Land Rover International Magazines. The original organizers Gord ‘n Perrott (WA), Aart Van Der Star (BC) and Doug Shipman (OR) thought it would be best to share the load of putting on this event every year and thus the Northwest Challenge alternates host locations between Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Since 1989 members of the Pacific Coast Rover Club and Rover-Landers of British Columbia have organized and participated in the Northwest Challenge. Dedicated Land Rover enthusiasts have come from as far as Vermont and S.F. California to participate.
Typically entry is accepted on a per team basis, although depending on what the organizer does, you could be assigned a teammate when you arrive. A team consists of two Land Rovers with a minimum of two adult occupants per vehicle. Land Rovers must be licensed, insured and in good mechanical condition. A proper roll bar is required for all open and soft-top vehicles. Equipment carried, must be sufficient to see the team to and over all obstacles encountered, without the assistance of other participants.
In recent years it has been challenging to find enough volunteers and hard-core participants to pull off a challenge similar to the past, where most often the teams consisted of two vehicles, each with a driver and co-driver. The challenge is evolving to included more technical and fun challenges, and participation by newer vehicles and competitors, rather than just a tough off-road event. With this, new life is being breathed in to a long-standing Land Rover event in the Pacific Northwest.