Jeffrey AronsonThis year the Rover Owners of Virginia (ROAV) celebrated its 50th birthday as a club. Over the previous 30 years, the Mid-Atlantic Rally (MAR) has served as the club’s principal event. To honor that achievement, the Association of North American Rover Clubs (ANARC) partnered with ROAV to change up MAR with activities that delighted the 600 enthusiasts and 400 Land Rovers in attendance, from as close as North Carolina to as far away as Minnesota.
I’m uncertain as to just how ROAV managed this, but the most prominent change came with the weather. At MAR, I met up with James Bullock, Alexandria, VA, and we reminisced about our last meeting at the Maine Winter Romp. Back then, he had stood knee-deep in the big muddy, next to “Gilroy,” my ’97 Discovery I at the time. We had both become mired in adjacent mud holes at the base of the Powerline Hill. This time, we chatted in the muggy but dry September weather in Virginia. Neither of us got stuck because the trails of the Little George Rod and Gun Club remained largely dry throughout the weekend. Only the valleys of the most tree-covered trails experienced any muddy conditions; where they did, the Virginia clay kept winch lines busy.
This MAR offered an expanded role for Land Rover specialists to share their expertise, enjoy mingling with the Land Rover enthusiast community and display their products through an enlarged “Vendor Village.” Rovers North’s Mark Letorney and Nick Cota expressed their delight in connecting anew with old friends and meeting new ones. Stuart Evans of Paragon Defenders, Sandston, VA, and East Lekker of Lekkar Defenders, Richmond, VA, both showed enticing examples of their builds.
Kraig Mackett, Perrysburg, OH, displayed two vehicles created by Wolf Classics: an EcoBoost-powered Defender 110 with Tibus portal axles, and a 110 with an Alu-Cab Icarus roof tent. From his personal collection, Kraig added a ’95 LHD Camel Trophy Discovery used as a qualification vehicle at Eastnor Castle. Justin Monin and his Lucky8 team displayed alluring off-road gear and their Roverball Freelander. Centrally located, this year the Vendor Village offered a respite from the hot sun instead of the usual steady rain.
As a special treat, ROAV and ANARC collaborated to bring author and marque historian Mike Bishop of Land Rover Classic UK to MAR. Mike arranged for three of the ten “Great Expeditions” vehicles from Pebble Beach to be on display at MAR: “Oxford” (The First Overland), the British Trans-America Range Rover (Darien Gap) and “Pollyanna,” Barbara Toy’s continent-crossing Series I. Although laboring under jetlag and cancelled flights, Mike gave an entertaining and informative presentation on the earliest years of company-supported explorations and adventures to a group eager to hear about the historic vehicles present. His storytelling, as captured in his book, They Found our Engineer (2011), captivated the large crowd.
Another innovation worthy of a ROAV boast came with the introduction of a Technical Experience Area (TEA) organized by Clarence Brown, Fairfax Station, VA. Clarence had participated as a ROAV representative to the ANARC Stewards Training last Spring, organized by Safe-Xtract and I4WDTA instructors [See Summer 2025 issue –ed.] For this MAR, Clarence created a Saturday morning training with Safe-Xtract’s Jim Geroux (with the assistance of Stewards’ trainee Ralf Sarek) and I4WDTA instructors John Brady and Eric Brown.
The three-hour session covered three broad topics: off-road driving, vehicle recovery and tire field repair. Scott Preston, Southwest Harbor, ME, participated and reported that 40 vehicles gathered in a large field, involving 50 attendees.
Eric and John focused on off-road driving issues: attention to approach, departure and breakover angles, and other potential mistakes that result in “expensive noises.” They had set up an excellent short driving course to highlight their points. As Scott explained, “one issue we all forget is the best seating position in the vehicle for off-road driving. Raise the seat to the highest possible position and slide it forward so you bend your arms at the elbows. The height enables a better view of the trail; the distance to the wheel allows the driver to keep two hands on the wheel (thumbs out!) and utilize the shuffle steer technique. The instructors demonstrated the advantages of two-foot driving – right foot on the accelerator and left foot on the brake. While these skills might have been new to many attendees, utilizing that technique helps with safe control of the Land Rover while out on the trails.
“For me, the real highlight was the Recovery section, led by Jim Geroux and Ralf Sarek. They focused on the do’s and don’ts of a single line pull of a stuck vehicle. Scott recounted that ‘when we get stuck, we all want to rush, rush, rush to get out. This leads to an unsafe environment and potential injury for all involved.’ The instructors preached to all participants to slow down; the best way to safely recover a vehicle is with a slow, controlled approach.”
Cooper Murray’s Vineyard Series created an “event within an event” by hosting a Saturday morning meet on a field on the Little George properties. For enthusiasts who did not want to off-road in their pre-2004 Land Rovers, Cooper created a “social celebration to honor ROAV’s 50th.” An additional 25 vehicles drove in just for Cooper’s gathering, adding to the total of 50 who enjoyed a second presentation by Mike Bishop. Cooper closed his morning event with a country drive to a nearby winery for his participants.
At the other extreme of off-roading, former ROAV president Mike McCaig, (Squire of Penlan Farm, a former MAR site), opened up the infamous Gensing Bog to those brave souls who wished to bury their Land Rovers in soft mud. The challenge was to drive as far as possible, unaided, in the spring-fed bog; the winner who traveled the furtherest without winching was Dan Grip, Bethlehem, PA, in his Defender L316.
MAR has always excelled at providing driving opportunities. Bob Steele served as the Trail Leader with a team of volunteers who created and cleared the trails, and who shepherded enthusiasts on the guided trail runs, from green lane to extreme. Rovers North and a team of volunteers from ROAV and other Land Rover clubs designed, created and administered an RTV course; over 40 enthusiasts competed in the challenge — even the winning team of Charles Galpin and Trey Crowther accumulated some penalty points.
Land Rover Richmond again helped feed the hungry participants, with local caterers, food trucks, and craft breweries and wineries adding to the caloric intake. ANARC had helped entice JLR to add its support through a KRo Events coffee lounge, merchandise center and rest area. David Jones, Emma Gage and Taylor Haven raised the energy level of every attendee through their enthusiasm along with the caffeine. As David told me, to the nodding approval of Emma and Taylor, “MAR was better run and more fun than any Land Rover event we’d participated in!”
All in all, 36 businesses provided support, with a special thanks to Tucker and Cass Adamson, owners of the Little George Rod and Gun Club — along with their family members — who made every attendee feel welcome on their family property. ROAV volunteers contributed 1,378 hours creating trails, clearing and cleaning the acreage, and hundreds of additional organizational volunteer hours over several months made this MAR quite memorable, a fitting tribute to ROAV’s 50th birthday. Here’s to the next 50 years!
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