THE week-long Defender Trophy started with a leisurely Sunday afternoon reporting for duty at the South Gate Country Lodge near Polokwane, South Africa. For Team Front Runner (myself, Michael de Bruyn and his 13-year old son Nathan), this involved a five-hour drive north from Johannesburg in Michael’s well cared for Defender 110 TDCi. I wasn’t the only one who’d travelled from abroad for the event; young James Birkholtz, who works on luxury yachts in Fort Lauderdale in the US, had flown in to join his father, Tony.
The first thing you do after checking in is to sticker up your Defender; this took a while as there were loads of sponsors. I used the time to reacquaint myself with some of the old Trophy legends, such as Chris Ash and Nick Smart. Chris was not taking part but had driven up from Johannesburg to greet everyone, while Nick and his partner Tiffany Blignaut would be bringing up the rear in his 130. They were also the Trophy mechanics – otherwise known as Land Rover royalty.
The first
