Durban IT consultant Chester Foster will represent South Africa in the global Land Rover G4 Challenge competition this year.
Durban IT consultant Chester Foster (left, in dark shirt) will represent South Africa in the global Land Rover G4 Challenge competition this year.
CARtoday.com reported last year that Durbanites Foster, 28, and Devlin Fogg, 25, (right, in orange shirt) would attend a five-day training and assessment programme at Eastnor Castle in the United Kingdom, to compete for the honour of representing South Africa in the 2003 Land Rover G4 Challenge.
Despite intense competition from his fellow South African, Chester qualified and will now undertake a training and preparation programme to prepare for the Challenge, which starts in New York City on March 30.
The international selections event took place at the Eastnor Castle estate from January 19 to 24. A total of 32 prospective competitors, two from each of 16 participating countries, were put through a series of demanding assessment sessions, including GPS and navigation, off road driving, mountain biking, climbing/abseiling and kayaking.
The purpose of the event was not only to select the final competitor for each nation based on quantitative scoring systems, but also to train all 32 competitors to complete the Challenge.
Foster said: “I am absolutely ecstatic – it hasn’t sunk in yet, but I’m getting there! I just want to enjoy the feeling at this moment with my team-mate. Unfortunately, one of us had to win, and I’m happy it was me, but in the same breath it is sad that we couldn’t do it as a team because we’ve worked so well as a duo.”
Paul Melhuish, managing director for Land Rover South Africa, said: “We were overwhelmed by the level of professionalism and team spirit demonstrated by all the competitors this past week.
“Despite the fact that they were subjected to harsh weather conditions and gruelling activities, everyone turned in a great performance and it was very difficult to make the final selection. We will be right behind Chester when he battles it out against the competitors from the other 15 nations”.