The Land Rover brand, and its exceptional range of vehicles, inspires a true spirit of adventure – a desire to reach new boundaries and explore all that the world has to offer.

Based on this passionate approach Land Rover TReK was born, giving Land Rover dealers and retailers the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the brand’s core values, its adventure orientation and the phenomenal capabilities of its product range.

“We have moved into 21 st century Land Rover,” explains Rob Timcke, event director for Land Rover TReK. “This positions Land Rover in the adventure sports market, and our dealers are interacting with sporty, active and adventurous customers.

“TReK is designed to expose the dealers to the types of outdoor activities that our customers are involved in, giving the staff a better understanding of their clients’ needs and requirements.

“It also exposes the dealers to the phenomenal capabilities of our product range, and the exciting new direction of the Land Rover brand.”

TReK – historical grounding, inspiration for the future

TReK originates from the old Swedish word for that great travel you feel the need to do in the transition from “boy to man, girl to woman”. It is a great adventure and journey in self discovery that helps people to grow up.

Actually pronounced “trerk”, this word dropped out of everyday use over 50 years ago with the advent of easier travel across Scandinavia and Northern Europe.

Although TReK is the brand name used for this national inter-dealer Land Rover competition around the world, it has obvious synergies with South African colloquial vernacular. The commonly used word ‘trek’ conjures up images of crossing the vast remote regions of this spectacular country.

In the Land Rover context, TReK is designed as an exciting team-building event that lives up to the core values of the Land Rover brand, and its exceptional range of products.

“TReK exposes participants to every aspect of the vehicles, from their sophisticated technology to the sheer driving pleasure,” says Dawid van der Merwe, sales and marketing director for Land Rover South Africa.

“Through this competition we achieve a greater understanding of our vehicles, and this helps to motivate all Land Rover staff which makes them even better ambassadors for the brand.

“Clearly, it also creates an excellent team-building opportunity that no other brand can match, building a spirit of adventure that forms the cornerstone of the Land Rover product range, its lifestyle orientation and its unique customer focus.”

“All who competed in TReK 2005 are passionate about the brand, and they undoubtedly lived the brand over the past two days,” Van der Merwe stated after completing the event as a competitor in one of two Land Rover SA head office teams.

A tough test of endurance

The 2005 Land Rover TReK competition was held at Tala Game Reserve, near Pietermaritzburg, on 23 and 24 August 2005. A total of 23 dealer teams, comprising three competitors each, thrashed it out for the highly prized TReK trophy.

The organisers and marshals featured instructors from the various Land Rover Experience academies. They established a rigorous regime of mental, physical and technical driving challenges spread over the two days.

Conducted at the same venue, and on a similar same basis, as used for the arduous Land Rover G4 Challenge South African Selections during the preceding week, the dealer teams had to endure extreme tests of mental aptitude and physical endurance.

As with the G4 Challenge selections, each team was scored on every facet of their performance throughout the event – both as a single team and in the combined exercises.

The programme comprised 13 different competitive elements, completed on a rotational basis. The tests included physical challenges such as a 40-metre abseil, a tricky climbing wall, orienteering, GPS navigation and a combined mountain biking and kayaking adventure race.

A series of vehicle -based evaluations included precision driving through a demarcated off-road course, winching, bridge building and a product knowledge test.

One of the undisputed highlights was driving the new Discovery 3 TDV6 S on the TreK Trial – a technical task where the three-person teams had to work together to negotiate a precise man-made 4x4 course in the shortest possible time.

The participants were also exposed to a tough late-night raft-building task where the group was divided into five large teams. They were required to build a raft at the game reserve’s main dam and carry it to the camp several kilometres away.

The competitive events were rounded off with a TReK Trial shoot-out which pitched the two top-scoring teams in this event against each other in a head-to-head race for the TReK Trial floating trophy.

Fourway Motors, from Vereeniging, kept a cool head and took the laurels in this event, finishing just ahead of Waterford Land Rover.

However, Land Rover Waterford won the overall TReK competition with a consistent run through most of the tests, giving the Fourways-based dealership the highly praised Land Rover TReK award for 2005.

The Land Rover Waterford team comprised service manager Jan Nienaber, along with salesmen Mike Romeo and Hanrie van Wyk.

“It was an awesome event,” explained an elated Mike Romeo, who has competed in all the Land Rover TReK events held to date. “This year the standard set was at a much higher level than any of the previous TReK events, and is undoubtedly the best one yet.”

Romeo pointed out that the results weren’t dictated by the teams that were the fittest or the strongest, but rather by those that kept their cool and who were consistent throughout the competition.

“This event demonstrates what Land Rover truly represents, with the adventure racing orientation showing where the brand is going into the future,” Romeo said.

As with the G4 Challenge, the Land Rover Discovery 3 was the vehicle of choice – and it proved extremely popular amongst the competitors. “The Discovery was superb.” Romeo said. “This type of event shows off the remarkable capabilities of our products. It reinforces how great they are, and what Land Rover really has to offer.”

Sandton Land Rover scored second place overall, with Land Rover Bloemfontein finishing in third position.

Photos Courtesy Land Rover Waterford, South Africa