LeJog 2025 – The Legend Returns

The concept of Lands’ End to John ‘o Groats as a challenge is fairly universal,
whether by bicycle or on foot, or some other ridiculous contraption, many are familiar
with this journey, from tip to tip of the Kingdom completed by celebrities and ordinary
folk alike. A little more niche though, is the bi-annual pilgrimage made by classic
rallyists, attempting the same feat whilst governed by the timekeeper’s clock, and
piloting a classic car. But if you know, you know.

2024 was a fallow year, and so in a week’s time the Lands’ End to John O’ Groats
Reliability Trial returns, with renewed fever and vigour, with 110 eager souls ready to
devour the adventure once again. 55 cars will take to the start on Saturday the 6 th of
December, beginning a 5-leg odyssey, that will see them attempt to complete a
1500-mile route, largely on roads that are on the slender side of narrow, in all of the
conditions the British winter can throw at them. If you hit all your marks, the journey
will end around 72 hours after it began, and the competition continues through the
night, with sleep very much a luxury commodity.

With a year off, Clerk of the Course and HERO Competition Director Guy Woodcock
has had extra time to plan this year’s event, but the devil makes work for idle hands
so will this year contain more challenges than ever? “It’s certainly an event that goes
back to the roots of what LeJog is about” says Guy, “We’re very much putting the
emphasis back on it being a reliability trial, that was always the point of it, and you
don’t need to overcomplicate that.” When Guy talks about reliability, he isn’t
necessarily referring to mechanical steadfastness, though that is of course a factor.
Reliability on this rally is just as much about crew consistency as it is about getting
the motor to the finish. “People are going to have to be on top form if they want to
walk away with a gold medal”, says Guy, “Saturday night in particular is going to be
relentless, with three long regularities and the TC section to contest.” In LeJog’s of
years gone by, the second leg through Wales was traditionally where a lot of sorting
out was done in the hunt for a coveted gold medal, and this year there are three-hour
long regs, followed by a two-hour Time Control section, that will take the competitors
deep into the night on the Welsh lanes. Guy tells me there is a minimal gap between
the sections, with just a few short miles separating them, little time then to collect
thoughts as the night disappears in a maze of time controls. Throw in the added
difficulty created by the weather, which is never kind, and the second leg can make
or break a medal push. “The roads will either be frozen, and possibly covered in
snow, or it will be so mild it will hammer down with rain, either way the weather is
bound to influence things as it always does” says Guy, through the grin that only the
Clerk of the Course is allowed to wear.

If only it were done after the shock and awe of leg two, but for those who pass
through the black of the Welsh night, there are still three legs to go, including the
near concurrent running of the final two legs that see the rally make its way along the
length of Scotland, continuing straight through the night. This mammoth undertaking
begins in Gretna first thing on Monday morning, arriving in Fort William late in the
evening, before heading out again with John O’ Groats as the target. There is a
break here, which this year will be a generous three hours, just long enough to eat
some food, tend to cars, plot your route and for those that can turn off the
adrenaline, maybe even grab 20 minutes of sleep before the final ten hours on the road begins. Ten hours that will include the infamous regularity along the shores of Loch Ness.

To the uninitiated I daresay it sounds like hell, and, it probably is at times, but the
euphoria of making it to the finish is a hard feeling to beat, a feeling so gleeful and
emotional, that even the fanfare of bagpipes at the finish arch sound sweet – at least
for a few minutes. There must be something about it that appeals, as it is an event
that undoubtedly gets under your skin and for some reason is a rally that strikes a
chord with European competitors in particular, with the entry always full of friends
from Germany, Belgium and other parts of the Union. This year, over half of the entry
hails from overseas, with the legendary journey attracting 56 drivers and navigators
from the continent and further afield.

Whilst there is no one winner of this rally, there are those who will want to walk away
with a coveted Gold Medal, and to achieve this they will need to reach every control,
and do so within the prescribed time threshold, which on a competitive section is
within a minute of target time. No mean feat across the distance, and with the added
fun of the conditions and fatigue, the crews will be under pressure if they want a
gold.

Who might do it though? Well Guy won’t be drawn on naming names, but he does
concede that there are a number of crews who have the ability to do it. Throughout
the field there are experienced operators, and those who have won or done well on
other events. Recent Rally of the Tests champion John King is entered in his Lotus
Elan, with experienced navigator and LeJog veteran Mike Cochrane navigating.
Mark Godfrey and Martyn Taylor are paired together, both of whom have well-earned
reputations and Andy Lane is competing again with Iain Tullie, who together have
more gold medals than Usain Bolt. Golden Roamer challenger Pete Johnson is
navigating alongside LeJog debutant John Lomas, and from Germany Thomas
Koerner will be hoping to repeat his gold medal triumph of 2023, when he was one of
just four drivers to walk away with a gold. Navigator Andy Ballantyne was one of the
few gold winning navigators that year, and he will also be attempting to add another
medal to his honour list. Elsewhere, there are those in the lunatic class, or pre-war
machines, of which three are entered this year. Two of those are open top, including
the Aston Martin of Simon Arscott and Emily Anderson as well as the 1924 Bentley
3-4 driven by Shaun Harborne, that has the honour of being the oldest car on the
rally. Shaun will be navigated by Alistair Leckie, who is more used to the heated
seats of his Saab, than the open Bentley, not that they’ve worked since 1997 anyway
mind you.

A medal of any material though is a hard-won item, and the truth is that finishing
alone is an incredible achievement, the event is that hard. LeJog is more than just a
rally, it is an examination of spirit, a rollercoaster ride of emotions along which your
head can be the biggest hindrance of performance. But to get to the finish, to gaze
out to sea at John O’ Groats and look into the bloodshot eyes of your crewmate
before sharing an embrace or a handshake under the arch, that is a moment of
exultation that is hard to beat. How many of those that begin will reach that point
though, that I wouldn’t like to say. We will find out, in just over a weeks time.