For Immediate Release

May 6, 2008

ECHO BAY MARINA, Echo Bay, Nev. – The first of four days of racing in the Land Rover G4 Challenge Nevada Passage got underway at 7am this morning from the Sunset Station Hotel and Casino in Henderson, Nevada as 10 co-ed teams jumped into their fully outfitted 2008 Land Rover LR3’s for an adventure of a lifetime.

The first task for competitors was to find their way from the hotel to St. Thomas - an old ghost town in Clark County which until recently was submerged under Lake Mead - using GPS coordinates. An hour-and-half drive later, for those teams who successfully navigated the route, a second set of instructions sent competitors on a twisting, sandy, mile-long trail run to the remains of what used to be an ice cream parlor back in the mid 1800’s.

The directions they got in the outback sent teams to nearby Overton Marina boat ramp for a timed kayak race on Lake Mead, where one team member was to paddle roughly 5-miles to Stewart’s Point while their teammate drove to that location. At Stewart’s, competitors switched positions and one teammate paddled 7-miles to Echo Bay Marina where the other team member met them in their Land Rover.

Six of the 10 teams started the kayak in the northern arm of Lake Mead at roughly the same time (the four others arrived staggered over the next hour with Team Yellow far behind in last after mismanaging their navigation system and heading in the wrong direction early on). The error was not critical, however, as teams were not scored on arrival time at Lake Mead.

The scoring component was the kayak, calculated from the time the first team member entered the water at Overton until the second team member arrived at Echo Bay.

Adventure racing veteran Adam Chase of Team Royal Blue – who grew up paddling on the Connecticut River – was by far the fastest to traverse the first segment and came into Stewart’s Point about an hour after he started and with a six-minute lead.

Chase’s teammate Caroline Colonna was well on her way to protecting the lead and finishing first but missed the turn into Echo Bay and paddled an extra half-mile before getting turned around in the right direction. The miscue allowed Reno, Nevada resident Tom Lyons (who also won the kayaking stage of the 2005 Nevada Passage along the Truckee River) to speed his way past three other competitors into first. Lyons’ partner on Team Purple, Lisa Lieb, had finished the first paddling stage in fourth place and eight minutes behind Chase. Team Purple’s combined time was 2:31:13, best on the day by nearly six minutes.

Team Royal Blue (Chase and Colonna) was second in 2:37:07 and Team Gray (Emma Garrard and Dean Kruuse) placed third just two seconds back in 2:37:09.

It was a picture perfect day with temperatures in the upper 80’s for competitors along the crystal clear and cool turquoise waters of Lake Mead – the largest man-made lake in the world (created when the Hoover Dam was completed on the Colorado River, about 30 miles east of Las Vegas).

As each paddler arrived at Echo Bay the teams loaded the kayak back on their Land Rover and set off on a five-hour off-road driving challenge north to Hell’s Half Acre near Alamo, NV. Teams were tasked with navigating routes and judged on Time-Speed-Distance during the 4WD portion. Pre-determined safe speed zones were set-up and teams were penalized if they traversed the route too quickly or too slowly.

The day’s last stop was the campgrounds at Hell’s Half Acre where teams will camp for the night and prepare for another full day of adventure on Wednesday. Note that each day’s competition is a mystery to competitors and they are tasked with being prepared for whatever challenges await.

The Land Rover G4 Challenge scoring system combines a series of written tests for first aid and mechanical knowledge, navigation skills, Time-Speed-Distance, driving skills, brand communication, and athletic skills. Totals will not be revealed until the final day of competition.

The four-day multistage competition, which lasts through Friday, is the United States’ sole qualifying event for the prestigious international Land Rover G4 Challenge. The top two teams will advance to the international selection event at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire, United Kingdom, in early 2009, where one team will be selected to represent the United States against teams from 17 other countries in the three-week-long finals taking place in Asia mid-2009.

For more information on the Land Rover G4 Challenge Nevada Passage, visit www.landroverG4challenge.com. For daily highlights and photo galleries visit www.nevadapassage.com. Media interested in receiving footage or photos should contact:

Land Rover Nevada Commission on Tourism
Bryan van Gorder or Nicole Marshall Chris Chrystal or Bethany Drysdale
213-926-0378/ 949-838-5957 775-687-4322
bryan.vangorder@cliffordpr.com cchrystal@TravelNevada.com
nmarsh15@landrover.com bdrysdale@TravelNevada.com

Day One – May 6, 2008
KAYAK COMPETITION RESULTS

Determined by combined times from Overton Marina to Echo Bay

Team Name / Total Time / Place

Team 5 - Purple / 2:31:13 / 1 / TOM & LISA
Team 6 - Royal Blue / 2:37:07 / 2 / ADAM & CAROLINE
Team 2 - Gray / 2:37:09 / 3 / DEAN & EMMA
Team 1 - Green / 2:39:21 / 4 / TIM & LINDA
Team 3 - Lime Green / 2:42:46 / 5 / PHIL & LAURA
Team 7 - Turquoise / 2:43:48 / 6 / PETER & SARAH
Team 10 - Red / 2:55:14 / 7 / JIM & BRANDYN
Team 4 - Orange / 3:00:31 / 8 / NATE & SAGE
Team 9 - Yellow / 3:01:28 / 9 / GARRETT & MARNE
Team 8 - Burgundy / 3:03:19 / 10 / SCOTT & RACHEL

2008 TEAMS LIST

Name Age Hometown Occupation

TEAM GREEN
Tim Menoher 37 Erlanger, KY Bank Sales Director
Linda Lindsay 43 Petaluma, CA Office Administrator

TEAM ORANGE
Nathan Brown 31 Cedarburg, WI Hyperbaric Technician
Sage Grossi 30 Tempe, AZ College Professor

TEAM ROYAL BLUE
Adam Chase 42 Boulder, CO Attorney
Caroline Colonna 44 Taos, NM Doctor of Oriental Medicine

TEAM BURGUNDY
Scott Fredricksen 33 Greenville, SC Sales Manager
Rachel Cieslewicz 29 Salt Lake City, UT Personal Trainer

TEAM LIME GREEN
Phillip Glenn 31 Reno, NV Emergency Medical Technician
Laura Home 35 Santa Cruz, CA Elementary School Teacher

TEAM TURQUOISE
Peter Hanson 43 Minneapolis, MN Sports Medicine Physician
Karen Stokes 41 Corona Del Mar, CA Personal Trainer

TEAM GRAY
Dean Kruuse 35 San Diego, CA Repair Shop Owner
Emma Garrard 27 Truckee, CA Photo Journalist

TEAM PURPLE
Tom Lyons 47 Reno, NV Real Estate Investor
Lisa Lieb 37 Durango, CO Property Manager

TEAM RED
James Perkins 33 Huntington Beach, CA Construction Company Sales
Brandyn Roark-Gray 29 Sandpoint, ID Mental Health Counselor

TEAM YELLOW
Garrett Wheeler 27 Waitsfield, VT Glass Blower
Marne Smiley 25 Ann Arbor, MI Director for Michigan MTB Assoc.