Jeep Club Latvia Summer 2010 International Event, July 23-25, Ligatne/Latvia
This was one of the hottest summers over the past years in Latvia, but it was double hot for Jeep Club Latvia, because of the preparations for our first event, where we invited members from Jeep Clubs of other countries.
Preparations for our event took about half a year and were very intense for the last 3 months. It was pleasure to get a lot of interesting questions about upcoming the event even from the U.S and Russia. Finally, thanks to Jeep Clubs from Denmark, Austria and Poland, their representatives managed to pack up and take part in our event.
The first teams arrived the day before the event from Denmark with trailing campers. Right after them arrived our guests from Poland and Austria. Before 16:00, the participants had been checked-in, received event regulations and departed to the Lido recreation centre, where the briefing took place. There were also Jeep Club fans, who supported the event participants.
The start was given at 18:00 and Jeep after Jeep departed to Līgatne, which is one of the most beautiful places in Latvia. Weather conditions were surprising us on every step - if during the day it was hot and humid then, just before dawn, there was severe thunderstorm, which turned roads to rivers and forests to swamps - Jeepers were very excited. Participants had to manage the route within a certain time limit, needed to register at all checkpoints on the route and complete additional tasks as fast and precise as possible. After 22:00 everybody arrived to the guesthouse "Ezernieki" to accommodate themselves in cosy rooms and spent the first evening singing songs in different languages accompanied by accordion.
Sunny and hot Saturday morning started with a briefing about the day’s events. Participants were divided in a number of groups, and each of them had to complete an orientation stage in the surroundings of Līgatne, they had to test their ability of understanding a road legend, and take part in a relay through a quarry. All Jeeps were divided in 2 groups - standard cars and upgraded cars.
Each part of the daily events had it's own nuances. The road legend exercise had to be completed within 180 minutes. A route had to be managed in accordance with a written road legend and a description with a map, where certain checkpoints were marked and which had to be photographed with at least one team member on them. The road legend stage finished in a ferry station on the river Gauja. After getting over to other side of the river, the Jeeps had to get to guesthouse Ezernieki on their own with the help of only the map.
An orientation task was the next part with a time limit of 180 minutes. During this time participants had to find as many checkpoints as possible. Upgraded cars had to photograph the checkpoints in a way that a team member touched the checkpoint and the car at the same time. Standard car participants had to take a photo with just the object and one of team members on them.
In an awards ceremony the results were announced:
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Standard Cars:
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1st place Grand Cherokee team No. 13 Edgars & Co (Latvia)
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2nd place Grand Cherokee team No. 50 Vasilijs & Co (Latvia)
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3rd place Grand Cherokee team No. 56 Thomas & Co (Austria)
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Upgraded Cars:
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1st place Commander team No. 10 Submarine (Latvia)
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2nd place Wrangler team No. 19 Egils19 (Latvia)
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3rd place Cherokee team No. 11 BlueBarbie (Latvia)
After the awards, we had a picnic and sauna fest up to the early morning. On Sunday, after breakfast, everybody had a chance to take an off road convoy drive to the capital city of Latvia - Rīga. One of the interesting places where we stopped en route was the Aerodium vertical wind tunnel, where everybody had a chance to test themselves to fly in a free fall on their own. See http://www.aerodium.lv/en. For all participants the event finished in Riga, but guests from Denmark, Poland and Austria continued their trip through the Baltic states.
We would like to express our huge gratitude to all supporters and sponsors:
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Jeep Club International: Desiree and Hendrik
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Insurance company If and especially Inese and Agitai
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Bajtel and cordial thanks to Elina
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Aldaris and lovely thanks to Agnese
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team of LIDO: Aleksejs, Edijs and Ieva
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L.I.O.N. & Ko - Karīna - thanks a lot
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Madara drinks - to all Madara team and especially Zane and Zane
Event in pictures:http://www.jeepclub.lv/lv/gallery/?id=111 We timely invite everybody to our event of next year!Sincerely yours, Jeep Club Latvia
