Destinations > Mongolian G4 Recce

Issue: October 2008

Words by Robert Pepper Photos by Nick Dimbleby and Robert Pepper

For most of us, a 4WD is a means to an adventurous end. For a very few, that end is Land Rover's G4 Challenge.

Adventure is many things to many people. For some it's a driving challenge, others get their rush climbing, kayaking, mountain biking or some other adrenalin-charged activity. But whatever your preferred pastime, you'd always enjoy it more in the midst of spectacular countryside, away from everyone else, and more often than not you'll need teamwork combined with navigation skills to even make a start.
That's what Land Rover's G4 Challenge is about. This year, eighteen countries will run trials to select two men and two women to represent their country in the international selections, where just one man and woman team from each nation will go forward to the final. While physical fitness and sporting competence is obviously a key to success, the winners are those that combine those talents with intelligence. The 2006 Australian representative Alina McMasters told us that success lies in working as a team to complement each other's strengths, mental focus, planning what you do and how and thinking outside the box. For example, how do you move a full jerrycan up a slope without touching or dragging it?

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All this makes the G4 Challenge one of the world's premier adventure events, and for that you need a premier location, so in 2009 those eighteen two-person teams will converge on Mongolia, where they will compete over twenty-five days in contests of driving skills, navigation and adventure trials. Setting up an event of this nature is a huge undertaking, and Overlander joined the official recce team to see firsthand what goes into the making of the G4 Challenge.
We started by flying to Dalandzdag in the south, about 200km north of the Chinese border. Waiting for us at the airport were two Freelanders and two Discoverys, which we drove to the first base camp. In Mongolia, 95% of the roads are unpaved, but the dirt roads aren't like the average Aussie dirt road. Theirs are more like our tracks, just wheel tracks over the grassland, not the graded highways we'd call a dirt road. The photos show the terrain, and don't think we're just showing the smaller roads either. That's what it's like unless you're on a main arterial route in which case think our dirt roads, but less well maintained and with much more erratic traffic.
There's another difference too - 'grassland'. Not a term you'd associate with our outback, but in Mongolia that's what they have. Literally, flat grasslands as far as the eye can see, and in Mongolia that's a long way. The air, and sky is as clear and fresh as I have ever had the pleasure of breathing, probably something to do with the elevation, which is between 1500 and 2500 metres above sea level. Or the complete lack of industry outside the capital. Whatever it is, the feeling of sheer open space is like nothing I have ever felt before.

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