Shenandoah Shootout
- Apr 19, 2016
- 3 min read
What a fun weekend it was in Virginia! We arrive at the campground Friday afternoon and had a chance to walk a couple of the courses the the guys with Expedition RC setup for us to run.
This was a military theme event, so each course had it own military inspired challenge. The first course had the drivers winding thru the woods carrying an army figure. Each time the figure fell off the rig you incurred a gate penalty.
On the second course you had to continue carrying the figure as you wound your way thru more of the woods and along a challenging creek bed that was more reminiscent of a U4 course. When you got to the end you had to find the camp and drop off you figure to receive a bonus.
My old eyes never found the camp.
Continuing on with the course was considerably easier to navigate until you got to the IED field. Ten lanes where setup, five for you rig and five to walk down. You had to go down the lane that corresponded to the course you started on. As you made your way down the lane you had to hope you didn't hit one of the many IEDs that had been carefully placed and hidden. The IEDs consisted of camouflaged mouse traps turned upside down, so as not to damage anyone's vehicle.
If you hit one it was a one else gate penalty and you picked your rig up, put it in the walking lane and continued on with the course.
Course three was another stroll thru the wood until late you got close to the end. The drivers had to make a choice from 3 different paths to take. If you chose of each of the wrong paths it was a gate penalty and you went back to try and choose the correct path.
Course four started out as a very easy drive thru the woods. It soon turn nasty as you had to navigate thru 3 large rock piles. These piles of rock were very deceiving. They were covered with leaves, so you had no idea if the line you chose to take was going to be smooth or have a big hole or gap in it.
After course 4 was complete the drivers went on. The the easiest and shortest course. Towards the end of the course there was a sniper challenge. Using an airsoft gun, you had 4 different target to pick from. The farthest giving to most points.
With the event being military themed the 50/50 drawing was to help benefit RCs For Vets. The 50/50 drawing had ended up being around $260, half of which went to the winner. Along with this, there also took up donation of parts and batteries. One driver gave 3 batteries, a local hobby shop donated 10 and I donated 5. Shawn Barton who was giving out the awards along with John Schultz was getting a little emotional after the hobby shop donated the batteries and was speechless after the 50/50 winner gave the money back as a donation.
Later in the evening, Gigabit Offroad sponsored a night run. They had 25 gates set up around the campground that you had to go thru following a map. Somewhere near the gates you would find 3 goats that would get you a prize.
Axial was on board and had 2, yet to be released, Yeti Score trophy trucks as prizes. Jennifer Bebow, my girlfriend, managed to win one of them.
I know that I had a great time, met some great people to include fellow team drivers Dan Huff. I was so concentrated on driving that I completely forgot about trying to get some pictures, but a photographer that was there took over 600 pictures and has them posted on his website.
Now it is time to get the rigs cleaned up and ready for Howling at the Moon in Florida with is this coming weekend.
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