South African Chester Foster moved into the top eight of the Land Rover G4 Challenge as the final leg began in the United States this week.
South African Chester Foster moved into the top eight of the Land Rover G4 Challenge as the final leg began in the United States this week.
The convoy of Land Rovers set off from Las Vegas for the canyon lands of Moab on Tuesday. “I feel that I’m already a winner, having shared so many awesome experiences in the first three weeks of the G4 Challenge – my life will never be the same again,” the 28-year-old Durban IT consultant said.
In the final stages in Australia, the teams took part in a triathlon with a difference, a two-and-a-half kilometre sea kayak across Sydney Harbour, a run across the bridge and then on towards a four-wheel-drive course aboard a massive ocean-going barge.
Australian Guy Andrews powered through the waves faster than anyone else with Foster second. But Andrews lost time when his partner Sergey Polyansky of Russia fell out of kayak a few times and could not make up the time on the run.
The top two teams of South Africa/ Saudi Arabia and France/Turkey were neck and neck at the start of the 4×4 section.
But time penalties for Franck Salgues and Turkey’s Cüneyt Gazioglu destroyed their chances of fending off Chris Perry and Chester Foster.
“At last. I have came so close to winning a Maximiser all event and now I’ve got one,” said Foster. “It was a close one too. Franck and Cüneyt had problems on the driving but Guy and Sergey made up for their problems on the kayaking with a great drive.” The Russian and Australian team finished second.
His strongest challengers are current points leader Rudi Thoelen, a Belgian jet fighter pilot, runner-up Salgues, a French geographical engineer and third-placed Chris Perry of Dubai. Fourth-ranked Andrews is a three-time Australian iron man champion.
For the fourth and final leg Foster is partnered with Italian chemist Alberta Chiappa, one of the two female contestants. The stage started on Tuesday with a marathon run and mountain bike through Utah’s Snow Canyon State Park.
Foster and Chiappa battled through the course with the Italian limping heavily as she tried to cope with a sore ankle injured during the South African leg. The pair fell back to a mid-table placing at the end of the day.
“Today didn’t exactly go the way we might have wished,” Foster said. “We’ve just got to keep pushing as hard as possible, with strategy playing a more important role than ever.”
On Wednesday the competition continues towards Moab, the extreme adventure capital of the United States.
