Beating 17 adcenture racers in global 4x4 race
Press ReleaseBeating 17 adcenture racers in global 4x4 race

South African superstar adventure athlete, Martin Dreyer, yesterday won the arduous 2006 Land Rover G4 Challenge, beating off 17 of the world’s toughest adventure racers in the 4x4-based global competition. His prize after a nail-biting climax to the 28 day marathon, that spanned four countries on two continents, was a brand new Range Rover.

Only the top four scorers – calculated after four extreme stages in Thailand, Laos, Brazil and Bolivia – made it into the Challenge Final staged in a river bed on the Bolivia/Argentina border. Of those narrowly missing the cut were two of the three women in the Challenge; Alina McMaster of Australia and Eleonora Audra of Brazil.

The top four finalists, in order of final points scores, were Martin Dreyer (749), Kris Janssens of Belgium (709), Dmitry Timokhin of Russia (694) and Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Calais (643).

"This is one of the happiest moments of my life. I cannot believe I have won," an elated Martin cheered, as fellow competitors hugged him in celebration. "Normally the events I do are a few days. This has been a month of build up."

"The final was tough. But the toughest part was the mental tasks. I so thought I had lost it. Then the next thing I knew I was slapping the bonnet of the Range Rover I had won. I never thought I would win the Land Rover G4 Challenge. I pictured myself crossing the winning line as a way to psyche myself up but to really think I would win before today would have been arrogant. Kris was a tough opponent, right to the end. I am not sure what happened to Dimi and J-B but they did good too."

Kris crossed the finish line as winner Martin was being besieged by media. He was philosophical in defeat – at the end of a week when he appeared to be getting stronger and stronger.