Alongside the usual events and entertainment for the 2026 National Rally, this year we have the Lancashire-based Red Rose Land Rover Club giving a demonstration of their “War of the Roses” event on the Saturday evening. For those who have never taken part or spectated this event, it promises to be very entertaining!

Pic above of the 2008 winning team from left to right:
Glyn Philips, Charles Whitaker, Dave Gregory, Nick French, Russ Cook and Adrian Gregory. Four of these guys (Charles, Dave, Russ and Adrian) are all taking lead roles in this year’s National Rally.

The actual War event, which has been running for over 40 years, is where 9 teams of six people in three Land Rovers compete in an event best described as a ‘Krypton factor meets winch challenge’. It was an early winch challenge event, but has maintained a similar format throughout the years, enabling entrants to be competitive with standard vehicles and minimum equipment.

The competition, which MROC have entered many times and won the shield in 2008, consists of a series of varied tasks that take skill and ingenuity to complete, involving a mix of trialling, winching and team-based challenges.

“The tasks include moving awkward heavy objects around courses, requiring plenty of thought and not just physical effort or winch power” said Charles Whitaker, one of the MROC team to have taken part. He continued: “tasks may also include driving blindfold under instruction, or completing a task in silence without verbal communication. You may need to build bridges, or construct aerial rope ways, fish objects out of ravines, move a dead vehicle
around an off road course… and then there’s the trailer which has featured in many events and quite literally has a mind of its own, as it’s winched and tugged around a course, usually with an awkward object attached to it. To add to all this there are time penalties for exceeding the time allocated, so tactics and working as a team are very important”.

It all makes for great spectating and we are looking forward to seeing what they come up with for their Demonstration Evening!

Overall, this year’s ALRC National Rally promises to be an exciting and sociable weekend, so come along and enjoy the events, soak up the ambience, and relax over a beer with your club members and like-minded enthusiasts.

More rally info and Booking Form

Richard Smith
Event Director