2020 The Low Down.
Where do I start, I really don’t know with so much to say It’s hard to put it into words.
But its official, Year 8 is done dusted and I have had a little time to reflect on what has to be the best event to date, a full house of vehicles from many different continents fighting for the title of Xtrem 20 champion.
Day 1 started the adrenaline flowing with some great tactics by The Welsh Event Group, for the first time ever we were able to allow side by side starts, something never seen in Xtrem events, this was only made possible by our new governing body Nora Motorsport and for that I think they deserve a round of applause, but I think he knew he was on to a winner by the drivers faces when they rocked up to the start line completely unaware of what was about to unfold. All I was being asked was “can we do this all weekend please”.
Moving on to the Friday night which always puts people out of their comfort zone, there is no point in buying nice shiny Led’s if your not going to use them, hence why we had the Nav Scatter and Night Dash, some loved it, some thought it was ok, some, well just got lost and were clueless, but that is why we call it a multi discipline event.
Normal event format returned on Saturday with 20 timed special sections, 5 of which needed a bit of thinking outside the box, we get asked why we do these? the answer is quite simple, it serves a few different purposes:
1) if you have vehicle issues then these aren’t as difficult as normal specials.
2) it makes you think and finally some give the co driver a rest from running up and down hills with some rope in their hand.
These again proved challenging where some of the teams have no idea what to do. Then for those who do not like being timed there were 20 random punches to be found dotted across the site.
Saturday night was the usual meal in the marquee with some entertainment in the form of our ever-popular charity auction and followed by what he called himself as a singer / entertainer but I beg to differ there……
The Sunday format was again the epic 3km lap where teams had a course set, visiting the previous days sections collecting punches on route. Some people excel at this and some people just knuckle down and fight to the end, it was great to see that all parts of the event were completed in time and for us as a team we always say if all parts of the event are done in time by at least 1 team then we have succeeded in putting on a great event.
All in all I think it was the best year to date, close on being perfect from an organisers point of view and now with only 2 events left to run to reach my goal of Ten Xtrems there is light at the end of the tunnel, although we do try to make the event slightly different each year by taking on board new ideas and tweaking it to suit as many people as possible we know that we will never please everyone but we have to go with the majority not the minority.
This year we seen new levels of media hits with live feeds seen from all over the world this alone is just amazing for us to see along with the excellent edits from our regular media teams which go hand in hand with the stills, again the photographers travelled from across the UK and Europe and we would like to thank them for their continued support , helping to share our great event.
I could go on for a long time but I do need to say thank you to so many people.
Firstly, we have our sponsors and supporters, we are lucky enough to have quite a few and some have been supporting us from day 1. I cannot list them all here but please visit our sponsor and supporter page and take some time to see what they can offer you.
Then our dedicated marshal team who are there in all weathers, just mucking in and getting it done. These are the backbone of our sport and we do try and look after them as best we can as without them we do it have an event.
2020 Competitors again shone through to show the great camaraderie we are known for, from helping other teams to being vigilant and helping us with our ongoing environmental issues, it just goes to show that we can make it work.
As mentioned earlier we are very lucky with the exposure we received and it still blows me away at where our stuff gets seen, it gives me goose bumps when I read back the comments and things we get and for that no words are enough.
The Shed, our new caterer, pushed the boat out by putting on a show never seen before at any of our events and he was found by accident! He has now done 3 events for us and has agreed to follow us for the foreseeable future, which for us is a sigh of relief.
Nora Motorsport is a new name in the Off Road Motorsport game but by no means new to the sport, they took on board the challenges set by having so many disciplines in 1 event and helped us put together a package and rule book to suit our needs, not us having to make an event fit their book. For us it was breath of fresh air knowing we were doing things right and able to put on an event that everyone wanted.
Lastly, but by no means least, the event team along with our dedicated recovery team who just got on with it, no job or task was too much to ask and with the added pressures from NRW at times they were pushed to their limits to ensure a safe event.
This moves me on to the winners, unfortunately there was a slight error on 2 parts of the scoring system, firstly SS6 was not added to the totals and secondly 1 team had a Super Sunday lap missed, these have been taken into account and placings have been amended, we can only apologise for this unfortunate error on our part. The scores and placings can be found below
So no matter what part you played in Xtrem20, I thank you and so that’s it from me for another year ….. next stop for us is The Welsh ONE50 30th / 31st May Walters Arena.
Have Great 2020 playing in the mud until next time
Nobby & The Welsh Event Group
Odyssey Warm Up: Smith / O’Regan
Wilderness Lighting Night Nav: Hickling / Wilson
Wilderness Lighting Night Dash: Doyle / Conroy
Gwyn Lewis 4×4 SS1: Hirons / Wilson
Ryalls SS2: Byrne / Ryan
Euro 4×4 Parts SS3: Hirons / Wilson
Goodwinch SS4: Webster / Essam
RAC Parts SS5: Hickling / Wilson
Alpha Fabrications SS6: Buddle / Wallis
Polar Bear SS7: Byrne / Ryan
Richards Chassis SS8: McClurg/ Papworth
Dorm Quality SS9: McClurg / Papworth
Hirons SS10: Veraart / Van de Kar
WKD Fabrications SS11: Baker / Jenkins
Blackbird SS12: Baker / Jenkins
A40 Roofing SS13: McClurg / Papworth
TD5 Inside SS14: McClurg / Papworth
Pioneer 4×4 SS15: McClurg / Papworth
Mayhem SS16: Hirons / Wilson
CSW SS17: Veraart / Van de Kar
Full Throttle Productions SS18: Hickling / Wilson
Cherimont SS19: De Jong / Van Der Linde
Graf Adventure SS20: Hirons / Wilson
Gigglepin Super Sunday: Hirons / Wilson
Nobbynosis Spirit Of The Event: Mathews / Worsley
TFR Karnage Kup: McClurg / Papworth
