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Lee's Tough Trail 2012
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Story by Noreen Slater Photos by Bas Quist
Robert Lee Shonert has operated the Safari Offroad Park for the past 17 years. He has hosted a wide variety of off-road events including: St. Patrick’s Day, Annual Multi-Club event (mid to end of April 21 for the last 16 years), S.O.S. (start of summer) and Land-Cruiser Days.
But the event that has garnered most of the media attention is the Tough Trail Challenge held each year on the third weekend in August. Over 40 trucks that enter each year are split into two groups and sent out on two different courses. The ‘small tire’ class (31" to 35” and 36” to 41") head to pre-chosen optional routes on the North Trails. The ‘large tire’ trucks (42" to 46” and 47” to 77") head out to the South Loop Trails where there are usually over 200 spectators waiting patiently for the action to start.
Once the video crew and judges are in place the first truck starts the course. This year Bill’s Gate A & B Trails were combined to provide more driving action and less time waiting for competitors to finish.
The next trail to face the large tire group was the infamous Hot-Tubs ‘A’ and ‘B’. This section is timed, side-by-side racing and was a total hit with the spectators and makes for great videos.
Many of the spectators moved to the North Trails to watch the 31"-35" and 36"-41" tire classes work their way through ‘Rocky Canyon’ and ‘Three Hills’, then over to ‘Can-Opener’ and on to ‘Beaver-Bend’ prior to meeting myself back at the concession stand, for a tire on tire display.
After a brief lunch, the small and large tire classes trade places on the trails.
The scoring system is loosely based on the English “trials” system, where by a stop, backup or winch constitutes minus points from the overall totals.
Some sections are “timed”, other hill sections have a point value that reflects the level of difficulty in ascending a specific hill and a second attempt means only 1⁄2 the point value of that particular hill/obstacle.
This scoring system seems to have a very balanced approach, as many of the competitors in the small tire classes have had scores within a 10% margin of the overall winner. Many of our Tough Trail Challenge winners have also competed successfully at the TOP-Truck-Challenge in Hollister Hills, CA.
Cost to enter the Tough Trail Challenge ranges between $200 - $300 and prizes are paid out to the four top finishers in each of the 4 tire classes ($13,000.00). The entrance fee includes a steak dinner for each driver/co-pilot team, and a copy of all finishers in the top three of each of the 4 tire classes.
This year the overall winner was Joey Penton driving the Scarrow buggy.
For the Sunday venue (1⁄2 day) there was a timed trail section for a separate trophy and a new- winch. This went to the single-seat buggy driven by Joey Scriber.
The Safari Off-road Park has an incredibly diverse landscape allowing Lee the opportunity to modify the course to reflect the diverse interests of the 4 wheel drive community, including the trend towards more technical rock crawling.
If you’re feeling like you’ve missed out on this years event look for the DVD out soon. It will be available at most 4x4 stores across western Canada and abroad. In fact, Lee has directed and produced 15 DVD’s for events hosted at the park. Pick one up for yourself or as a Christmas gift for that ‘hard to buy for’ person on your list.
For more information on the park visit www.safarioffroad.ca or call 780-922-0310.