Mystery Run 2001: Chasing the Wild Goose

Vancouver Island has some of the greatest wheeling in the Pacific Northwest. Island Rock Crawler's annual Rock Crawl brings enthusiasts from one end of the west coast to the other. Even more impressive than the wheeling here, are the people that enjoy the sport. Island Rock Crawlers is a well-established and organized club, with fantastic membership and attitude. Island4x4.com members are a fun loving, banana-eating, monkey wrench toting group of NIRM's; they're also a fantastic gang of monkeys. There has been, at times, where I've noticed…uhm… a slight barrier between the two entities.

Now, how can something like this be overcome…? Of course! A group event…a collaborative venture… something that would involve both groups, and that would force them to MINGLE. Ach! Enter Mystery Run.

I had been toying with the idea of a Treasure Hunt themed 4x4 run for quite sometime, well, since May 2001 anyways. The point of the event was to have mixed teams of skill, vehicle capabilities and knowledge. This would be a great learning tool for newcomers to the sport, and a great source of fun for the rest. The plan was to set things up to take people out of their "comfort zones", so to speak.

Now, making the event an Island4x4.com/IRC event seemed to fit in perfectly.