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Nevada
Trophy 2003 - The 36-hours of Nevada
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 NVTR2003
WINNERS
Right: Bill Ruttan (driver)
and Lindsay Sheppard (navigator) win NVTR2003 - The 36-Hours
of Nevada in their 1995 Land Rover Discovery. (click pictures for larger view) |
Lovelock, NV.,
In only their third attempt Bill Ruttan and Lindsay Sheppard
won the Nevada Trophy 2003 – The 36-Hours of Nevada.
Driving Ruttan’s 1995 Land Rover Discovery, Ruttan, along
with navigator Lindsey Sheppard, they set out on their adventure
at 8 o’clock Friday morning August 14, their in-time would be
36-hours later.
As with all NVTR events since 1996, Registrations and
tech inspection were held Thursday afternoon/evening, and
re-opened Friday morning. At 7:30am Michael Green, the Executive
Director of NVTR, commenced with the Drivers Meeting.
This year’s event was the first time NVTR would be run in
the summer months. Instead of battling snow and mud, a new
hazard to participants and workers alike was rattlesnakes, or at
least the possibility of them, and the dust. Another new twist
in NVTR is the time frame, the “36-Hours of Nevada”.
In the past participants would run for 12-hours on Friday, then
return to the hotel within their allotted time (to avoid penalty
points, 200 per minute if over the 12-hour mark). The event
would be re-started on Saturday and run another 12-hours, not
including the famed Trophy Course.
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Chief of Scoring,
John Gulliford, took over from Green to explain how this years
scoring worked; each waypoint, some 200+ of them, has a value
from 100 to 1000 in Book-1 and 200 to 2000 in Book-2, this
you’ll find next to the LON/LAT for the given waypoint. In
addition, there are a few bonus waypoints out there; these could
have values as high as 5000 points! In the navigation book
you’ll also find a few (four) “Mandatory Waypoints”, these are
just as they are named, you must find them and be on time or
penalty points will be incurred. With that said, John waited
until 8:00 am then began handing Navigational Book-1 out to the
participants. Unknown to the participants at this point, was
they would have to find a Mandatory Waypoint Friday night
between the hours of 9:00 pm and Midnight in order to obtain
Book-2, they would also be required to turn in Book-1. This
year there would be a blanket out-time of 8:00am. With Book-1 in
hand participants now had to configure their GPS’ and layout
their maps, and/or their laptop (also new for 2003) with the
days’ material. Moments later the workers set out for the first
mandatory task.
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The area containing
the event is always kept secret, but we will tell you that our
base of operation was from the Ramada Inn in Lovelock, Nevada.
The waypoint the participants are searching for could be
anything from a STOP sign (100 points), to a white 3” diameter
tag zip-tied to a bush or tree out in the middle of nowhere.
Mind you, all waypoints are on or near established roads &
trails, and the cars are required to stay on these. If a
waypoint is away from a road, participants are required to walk…
some of the waypoint you’d wish you were a Mountain Goat due to
the hiking involved.
Michael Green, who owns the Off-Road Experience, has a
great group of volunteers who help set up the NVTR
course. Setting up the course is no easy task, far from it,
it’s long hours. The “ORE” Crew spent at least six
weekends this year laying out the over 200 waypoints, plus four
Special Tasks, and the Trophy Course.
About 8:45am the first cars began leaving the hotel, their
direction anybodies guess, as each team (2-cars), can layout the
route as they see best. With that said, the participants first
order of business was to get to the first Mandatory Waypoint,
which had operating hours of 9:00am to 1:00pm.
The 110 Wagon of Walker and the Chevy Blazer of Eric Olsen were
the first team to arrive at the task we named Drag Race. The
Marshal would give the drivers written instructions; “This is a
drag race. You must first deposit everything you need to change
a tire over there (the fire pit), and then line up the two-team
cars side-by-side at the start line. Now stand in front of the
car, when you here “GO” get in, fit seatbelt, drive as fast as
you can the 120 feet, stop the car, get and run and get tool,
then remove and refit the left-front wheel. The driver will then
get back in the car and drive it across the finish line, but
you’re not done yet. The driver must then run back and tag the
navigator who is still at the 110 foot mark, once tagged he (and
only he) must run to the finish carrying all the tools and jack.
Fastest time wins. Ready?” Car B1, that of Walker & Walker won
the Drag Race Relay with a time of 4:45.72 and gaining 6000
points in the process. Greg & Gregory Chapel in the PUCH took
second with a time of 5:16.53 Team “A” missed this task by
30-minutes, thus received a 2000-point penalty each.
With the first Special Task of the day out of the way, the teams
were free to search for waypoints as they chose. Team “C” of
Walker and Olsen headed to the far north of the course, while
others, like “A2” of Wayne Vannorsdall/Ross Drombrowski (’91
Range Rover) and team-mates “A1” of Todd & Lori Rueppel (1963
88” Land Rover) stayed closer to the center of the course. Some
thought the combo of Vannorsdall/Drombrowski, two-time winners
of the Nevada Trophy, had the right idea and followed
suit. So the teams droned along throughout the day and into the
night. The next Mandatory Waypoint would open at 9:00 pm until
Midnight. When the Marshal’s arrived at the location, which can
only be found via LON/LAT and your GPS, team “A” was waiting. At
9:00pm it was now dark enough to begin the Special Task, this
one was named “Firefly”. The night before the “ORE” crew
had come to this part of the woods to layout a Night Time
Navigational Task which involved very small reflectors and the
use of a flash light to find you way around the course on foot.
Fastest time wins. To make things more fun, two courses were
set up, “A1” taking one, “A2” the other. Todd & Lori Rueppel
would beat their teammate with a 6-minutes, 41-seconds verse
6:44. It wasn’t until “E” team arrived that “A” team times were
beat. The Toyota mounted team (E2) of Chris Steiger & Jeff
Chapel scored an impressive 4:58, while the Father and Son
Chapel’s (E1) scored 5:48.
While waiting for other competitors to arrive, the Marshal’s
watch the lightshow in the night sky; shooting stars seemed to
be everywhere. The show was briefly interrupted when a noise was
heard, the dog growled… seems a Mountain Lion was near by.
Next to arrive was Ruttan/Sheppard (C1) and (C2) Andrew Cawte/Vincent
Aguirre in their 92 Range Rover. They completed the course in
6:55 (C2) and 7:55 (C1) respectively. Nick Mit/Eric Chow (D1)
and Randy Katz/Anthony Joseph (D2), both 1997 D90 mounted were
next to appear, though car repair was the first order of
business.
Nick had only his fog lamps left working; the headlamp switch
had overheated, while Randy was overheating the engine (stuck
thermostat). Michael Green quickly repaired both cars while the
drivers/navigators participated in the task. At the published
time, the Marshal’s broke camp and headed for town down the
2-track trail and wash that led them to the main highway. En
route the Marshal’s would pass Walker and Olsen duo, who were
still trying to get to the task. They were panelized 2000-points
each.
The Marshal’s arrived back at the hotel about 1:30am, and to
their amazement, nearly all the teams where there catching some
sleep. At 3:00am the “A” team departed with Book-2 in hand.
Their first Mandatory wouldn’t be open until 9:00am Saturday.
At 7:30am the “ORE” crew departed the hotel and headed
for the two special tasks of the day. Turp and Bev, along with
Rob Whitaker, April Loui and Michael Green headed for the
Motocross course, while John Gulliford and Woody went northwest
to set up the shooting task. This was quite simple, using a 22
rifle you had 6 shots, best score and time wins maximum points.
The MX course was a driving course; one lap in clockwise
direction, turn around at finish line, the go counter clockwise
over a marked course, fastest time wins. The only rule was, Low
Range must be used. With times all over six minutes, it was
great to see Nick Mit rip off a time of 4:59.96 with no
penalties. Wayne Vannorsdall arrived just as Nick was
completing his laps, and with that in mind beat the fast time
with a 4:38.47
At Noon both tasks closed for business, but they weren’t
finished yet. The MX course banners were removed, then the
three Rover group set out to set up the famed Trophy Course.
Unknown to the participants, then final Mandatory Waypoint,
which was open from 6:00pm to 9:00pm, was the finish line, and
not at the hotel like previous years. Here each car would have
to do one lap against the clock, though on the way the Navigator
would be quite busy to say the least. After April gave course
instructions they would encounter a tire in the road, which had
to be hauled up a hill and placed beyond a stake. The Navigator
would then get back in the car and the buckle seatbelt before
the car was permitted to proceed. Next with the Recovery task,
hooking up a tug strap, followed by the Cone Rely. Here 4 pylon
cones were lined up down the center of the trail, one at a time
was moved and the car pulled forward, then cone put back where
it came from until the car had passed all 4. Then it was back in
the car for a quick ride down the hill, round a hard left turn
and onto the finish line. Chris Steiger/Jeff Chapel (E2) pulled
off a time of 2:30.56 whereas the slowest was 3:42.25 of D2.
All impressive times. (see Scoring section on our web site).
Bill Ruttan and Lindsay Sheppard we announced the Winner at
breakfast Sunday morning, their teammates Andrew Cawte and
Vincent Aguirre took second place overall. The “C” team also won
the “Best Team” award for best average score. The father
and son duo of Greg and Gregory Chapel (Greg won the Trophy
Course award in years past) took 3rd overall in
the PUCH, while his other boys won the “Special Task”
award in the Toyota pickup. Combining all points earned/lost on
the five Special Tasks scores this award. Our next event is the
NVTR-II (in miniature) on October 25, 2003. This will be a
12-hour event. As for Nevada Trophy 2004… stay tuned for
dates. Thanks to all the workers and participants alike for the
job well done. |
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