Hot and cold in the Utah desert
If you don't like heights, especially the precipitous unguarded edges on crumbling rough trails climbing up the sides of canyons, then don't go on the Land Rover G4 Global Challenge, writes Brian Byrne. I hate those kind of heights, but I did go. And I wouldn't have missed the experience for anything.
Fighter flyer wins Land Rover GR4 Challenge
26 April 2003: The first Land Rover G4 Global Challenge has been won by Belgian F16 fighter pilot Rudi Thoelen (above), after a final stand-off in Moab, Utah today between the 16 contestants. The Irish participant, Dingle man Paul McCarthy, came sixth, after gaining two places in the 'Separator' finals.
McCarthy waits to see final placing in L-R challenge
26 April 2003: Kerryman Paul McCarthy is waiting this morning to find out how well he has done in this final stage of the Land Rover G4 Global Challenge, which finishes today in Moab in Utah with a head-to-head of the individual contestants to finalise their scores.
Paul running fifth, and feeling fit
22 April 2003: "I'll be going home much fitter, though I don't think I'll have lost any weight because we've been eating well," Paul McCarthy told me last night as he prepared for the last leg of the Land Rover G4 Global Challenge, in which he is lying a creditable fifth.
21 April 2003: It does not get any more quintessentially Australian; on one side the sparkling sails of the Sydney Opera House. On the other, the gargantuan girders of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. And in between, the battleground for the final test on the Australian Stage of the Land Rover G4 Challenge – the Sydney Maximiser.
09 April 2003: “I’d always said that I’d never do a bungee jump,” said the UK’s Tim Pickering. “But if I don’t, we’ll lose the points.” The Brit smiled, took three steps forward and on the shout of “bungee”, dived headfirst off a 65-metre bridge to an awaiting boat.
08 April 2003: “Wow, there’s a mouse down here,” yelled Sergey Polyansky from the bottom of the cave. “That’s not a mouse, it’s a bat,” replied his teammate, Chris Perry, as four of the tiny winged creatures took to the air and flew past the Russo-Arabian pairing.
07 April 2003: After experiencing temperatures of –20 degrees Celsius in up state New York, competitors of the Land Rover G4 Challenge were now faced with the 30 degrees heat of Cape Town, South Africa. Ireland's Paul McCarthy is teamed up with Germany's Dirk Ostertag for this leg of the challenge.
06 April 2003: “It’s hard to believe that only two days ago were skiing,” said the UK’s Tim Pickering as he looked out over a sun drenched Cape Town. It was a severe culture shock for the 16 competitors of the Land Rover G4 Challenge. After experiencing temperatures of –20 degrees Celsius in up state New York, they were now faced with the 30 degrees heat of Africa’s most southerly city.
G4 challenger makes top eight after 1st round
04 April 2003: Ireland's Land Rover G4 Global Challenge contestant John McCarthy, and his team-mate for the first stage Tim Pickering of the UK, are among the top eight at the end of the first stage of the challenge yesterday in New England, USA.
From 5-star hotel to minus 5-star tent
31 March 2003: If Sunday, and the first day of the Land Rover G4 Challenge on Broadway was all show, Monday’s activities brought the 16 competitors in the world’s newest and most taxing adventure challenge down to earth with a bump.
Land Rover G4 Challenge ready for the off
30 March 2003: When the Land Rover G4 Challenge bursts into action in central Manhattan later this afternoon, Ireland’s competitor is stone mason Paul McCarthy of Ventry, County Kerry.
Kerry contender wins through to world adventure challenge
24 January 2003: Paul McCarthy from Ventry has won through to be the Irish representative on the Land Rover G4 Challenge. He's pictured above with team-mate Warren Keogh from Blessington, who was with him on the national selections held this week at Eastnor Castle near Birmingham.
Irish duo fight for a single global 4x4 place
24 January 2003: Two Irish 4x4 enthusiasts are today battling it out in the last lap for one of them to get a place in the final of the biggest 4x4 event of the century - the Land Rover G4 Challenge.
March/April 2003
- Edited by Brian Byrne