Mix seven teams of ex-pat Kenyan Bushboys, a bunch of gritty Yorkshire off-roaders, some local school children and their teacher and various other wacky teams and let them loose in the wonderful environment of Pippingford Park in East Sussex for the day and it is perhaps inevitable that a good time will be had by all. Add a plentiful supply of mud, some beautiful early autumn weather to chase away the recent rains and enthusiastic bands of spectators and it is hardly surprising that most teams had a smile on their faces most of the time, even when lost on the navigation routes!

Just over £12,000 was raised by the event which was won by Alan Wormald, who had to cope with a failing crankshaft sensor on his Mercedes G-Wagen aka The Green Sinking Machine, and swapped it for a Discovery half way through the day. Rashminder Bhabra was second in his impressive Toyota Landcruiser Special which also won the Tiger Lines from Mark Edwards in his Suzuki SJ410.

Two teams were particularly successful with their fund raising – Kit Kaberry (Land Rover 90), was second in both the overall fund raising stakes and the Victor Ludorum for the combination of performance in the UK Rhino Charge and money sponsored, only being beaten in both by Sachin Patel in his massive Nissan Patrol with an equally massive sponsorship fund.

Selone Chadha and her team of Bushgirls filled their Landcruiser with plenty of noise but lacked navigational sophistication, asking the clerk of the course, Brian Hartley, where they were every time they saw him to earn the Where the “F” are We prize. As Sachin Patel ended up comprehensively stuck up to his axles in the middle of the Tiger Line, having struggled to avoid all the trees at Pippingford in his Patrol on steroids, and lost half his points by failing to finish on time, he ended up with the Spirit of the Event award by way of consolation as he and his team were very much up for every challenge that was thrown at them. Perhaps a smaller 4x4 might be better suited to UK conditions next year?

The enthusiasm for the UK Charge itself and for raising funds for Rhino Ark made this year’s event one of the best for a long time with a tremendous atmosphere throughout the day which carried over into the prize-giving. We would like to thank all the teams, their supporters and the marshals for making the event so memorable.

LF = Late Finisher: score for Rhino Charge halved, potential position in brackets.

Other trophies:
Final Tiger Line – Team 7, Mark Edwards
Where the F are We prize – Team 16, Selone Chadha
Spirit of the Event prize – Team 6, Sachin Patel