Happy new year!

If you're looking ahead to 2012, here's a date to plan into your off-road calendar. The UK Rhino Charge will take place at Pippingford Park in East Sussex on Sunday 23rd September 2012, and entry forms for the event will be available at www.rhinocharge.co.uk.

The UK Rhino Charge is a fundraising event with a fun atmosphere, organised to raise funds for the Rhino Ark charitable trust, which works to support conservation in Kenya. More information about the organisation can be found at www.rhinoark.org.

The event is run by some well-known members of the off-road community and the focus is on having a jolly good time at the same time as raising money. The winner of the Victor Ludorum prize, determined by performance on the day and the highest sponsorship totals, also gets the opportunity to compete in the Kenyan Rhino Charge!

The Armchair Laners, so named because of their love of the more sedentary aspects of the off-road scene, have been braving it out in the big bad world, ending their year's off-roading at a very muddy Bush Farm. 'It was a great day,' said Lee Tatam, 'the wettest we've ever seen there. In fact it was like driving through porridge! We had rain showers all day but no-one was put off and everyone had a smile on their face.'

Bush Farm is a privately owned site near Saltash in Cornwall and is one of the favourites of clubs such as the Armchair Laners, www.armchairlaners.co.uk, who are lucky enough to be based in the Devon and Cornwall area.

Ystradgynlais Overland Club is busy preparing to take part in the Help For Heroes European Rally in 2012. YOC, as they're happy to be known, are a family-friendly off-road club based in a small Welsh village ten miles from Swansea and on the edge of the beautiful Brecon Beacons. The club has been running for over three years and has a total of 50 members. They normally enjoy activities such as green laning, pay & play and weekend events but are looking forward to an adventure a bit further afield next year.

Most of you will have heard of the Help For Heroes 4x4 Rally, which has had two extremely successful events already and is all set for another amazing fundraising total this year. To find out more about this event, visit www.h4hrally.org.

YOC club members are currently seeking sponsorship and donations from companies and individuals to help kit out their vehicles and raise money for the charity. If you'd like to read a bit more about the club, think about joining, or feel like sponsoring them, visit www.yoc4x4.com.

On the evening of Saturday 12 November, the LRS Challenge entourage gathered at the Angel Hotel in Market Harborough for the culmination of the 2011 season - the awards ceremony. Derrick Johnson, the proprietor of LRS Offroad was there to hand out the very generous awards to go along with the much coveted championship trophies.

The series kicked off back in March at Newton Lodge near East Midlands airport and was followed by a second round at Upplands Coppice in Bridgenorth, and a third at Yarwell in Northamptonshire. Round four saw a return to Duck End at Kettering while the fifth event was held at Bickford Field near Cheltenham.

The last event of the year was at the Coney Green site near Stourport.

Here, the Sharp brothers, Allen and David, were the only team to win every event. Simon Lee and Jonathan Wood experienced some problems, giving the ever-improving Jake Cooper and Steve Jeffries their first and much deserved victory in Class 2. Roger Smith and Andy Savage once again took the honours in Class 1, their third victory of the series.

At the awards ceremony, there were no prizes for guessing that Allen and David Sharp walked away with the generous award bundle for Class 3 and that Simon Lee and Jonathan Wood had the prizes for Class 2.

However, the closest battle of the series was in Class 1 and after a titanic battle over the six rounds, the guys to walk away with all the LRS goodies were Roger Smith and Andrew Savage.

The awards evening was a big success, at the end of which half of the available 35 entry places for 2012 had been taken. If you fancy giving it a go, you should get onto the LRS website and book your place! www.lrschallenge.co.uk

LRS Challenge 2011 Overall Championship Results

Class 1
Roger Smith & Andrew Savage 142
Karl Bunting & Craig Howard 138
Nick Evans & Simon Evans 133
Ben Mark & Chris Sutcliffe 129
Chris Genner & Dan Dawkins 119

Class 2
Simon Lee & Jon Wood 150
Jake Cooper & Steve Jefferies 132
Chris Smith & Robert Stapleton 125
Dan Hickling & Henry Essam 123
Simon Sagar & Andy Shrive 121

Class 3
Allen Sharp & David Sharp 150
Wayne Newton & Simon Allen 130
Gary Zoller & Roger Sutcliffe 122
John Bonner & Jon Norman 120
Chris Booth & Tom Booth 111

The RoguePirates set sail once again to Peartree Farm at Lea nr Matlock on the 26th November. The 40 punches on the site were a little sticky to start off with on the Saturday morning, but ten trucks set out for the challenge regardless, while others came for the driveround and to see what a winch challenge was all about.

There was also a beginners’ bog, with 15 punches scattered around trees which looked easy until they found themselves wedged in behind tree trunks! There was the option of swinging in the trees for five of the punches – not for the faint hearted – and more than one winch was required to keep you upright. A wooded and rocky section hid some steep climbs which put the winch ropes under some strain. These led to a boggy section which was great fun to get out of, not knowing where next you’d end up as you didn’t always go where the steering was pointed.

Three challenge trucks were out including Nick Bird’s new Thug build, testing their trucks for next year’s challenge events: the other two, Gary Reed and Tim Platt, both entering into the LRS for next year, all came back with a full card.

Thanks go out to Jim the site owner and Rob, Tim, Jayne, Russ for setting out on Friday and many others who helped out on the Saturday.

Thanks to all those that attended, making it a cracking day’s off-roading, with everyone leaving with a big grin on their faces.

Why not sign up to Roguepirates4x4.co.uk and climb aboard for one of their many voyages…