CORE 4x4 Event

On Saturday, Terry and I volunteered to help work our 4-wheel drive club, the Timber Tamers, work the obstacle course at the 2009 CORE Challenge III. The event consisted of a couple different courses (mud, rocks, etc) the competitors had to run thru and try for best time. Our club volunteered to man the big obstacle course. We had 12 club members out for the day. Terry and I ended up perched on a hill in the middle of the course and were in charge of timing the competitors since we could see both the starting line and the finish line from our vantage point.

We had to arrive at 6:00 to get set-up and organized before the competition started at 9:30. Once we got a few rigs thru, we realized since there was only one finish line, we would have to run only one truck at a time in case there was a problem at the end. We didn't want to take the chance of the second racer getting held up by the person in front of him especially since it was for time and the times varied. The quickest person to get thru made it in 1:58. The average was probably around four minutes. About one third of those that started the course, did not finish due to breakage. We did have some vehicles that would help them get un-stuck if needed and they clock would stay running. They only got a DNC if they broke and did not finish the race.

We ran rigs until 5:00 when everyone was able to get thru the course at least once and a couple rigs even got in their second pass for the day. By that time, I could feel that I got a lot of sun on my legs (in particular, the back of my knees and upper calve). Terry and I packed the Jeep up and left the event around 6:00. After being there for twelve hours, we were ready to get a cold beverage and some good food. We had a great time out there and really hope to be able to volunteer again.