This was my first competition ever. I was nervous that the competition was going to blow me away. I was pleased to discover that the competition had similar vehicles as mine. A few competitors had competed before, but most of the vehicles were configured similarly, except for the ARCA rig. I figured he'd be the winner. Turns out that vehicle wasn't competing, it was just there for show. I was also expecting similar rules as ARCA where it's a point system. Penalties for stopping, backing, hitting flags, winching, etc. Turns out this was a timed event. Fastest through the course using any tools you choose wins. A 30 second penalty is collected for each flag (gate) hit. The order we were running in was drawn randomly. I drew third. The first Jeep through was a green Willy's that looked like it had a brand new paint job. He hit the course hard and got into a little trouble on the second obstacle, scraping the paint on the drivers front fender. While backing out, he nearly flopped the Jeep on the side, but saved it. After that, he ran through the course like a madman and posted a very good time. Turns out that time stood almost all day. Next was a 19 year old girl in her dad's Jeep with her dad spotting. She got into trouble on the first obstacle (a few logs and a bunch of un-split firewood). She spent a lot of time in this obstacle but finally got through. She drove most of the course but decided to skip "Turtle rock" in both directions. I'm not sure how that would be judged if she had a competing time, but it turned out to be a non-issue because so much time was spent in the wood. I thought she listened to her spotter intently and drove excellently. Next it was my turn. I tried to learn from the two vehicles before me, but I'm not sure I really learned anything valuable. On the first obstacle (the wood), I fell off the blocks and was trying to free myself. I ended up puncturing the sidewall on the drivers side rear tire. Since I have beadlocks, I decided to ignore the flat and run the course anyway. I walked over the second obstacle (kind of a wedge) pretty easy. I shifted to 2-lo and disengaged the lockers to round the sharp corner. Through most of the rest of the course I did pretty good, even on the flat tire. On Turtle Rock, I was a little too far left and was close to rolling onto my side. The flat tire wasn't holding on the rock at all. As I tried to progress forward, I would go left instead. I ended up coming off Turtle rock towards the right, missing the gate. This happened a few more times this heat to other competitors, so I think it was ignored by the judges. Darrin got on the side of the Jeep when things started getting hairy and I think his ballast really made a difference. I made it back over Turtle rock in the other direction without much difficulty. After negotiating a couple corners I came to another rocky area. Here I got off-line and up-rooted a very large rock. This hung the Jeep up for about 10 minutes or so. After trying several other things, Darrin and I ended up putting the high-lift in the front drivers side wheel and lifting it way up. Gotta love those strong Champion Beadlocks! This lifted the Jeep off the rock and Darrin kicked it back in it's hole. We drove out the rest of the course without much difficulty and posted an adjusted time around 17 minutes. Good enough for second. (out of 3 competitors). The rest of heat one took much longer than expected. By the time the heat was over, I was in 5th out of 15 competitors. I was pretty happy with that position, but I really wanted another shot. I spoke to the host, Jeff Knoll and he said that the top 5 will compete in heat two running in reverse order. That meant I was first of the second heat. Ryan was in 4th so he'd run right after me (I was Ryan's spotter). On my second run I ran through much cleaner than the first. I didn't fall off the wood blocks to begin with. On the wedge rock thing, I was a little off line and running slightly higher tire pressure. I had to back off once and hit it again. I rolled through the rest of the course pretty clean. On the squeeze, I rolled through barely hitting the gate as I went through. The course judge said he wasn't going to count it, but the spectators were calling it so he had to. He was trying to be easy on that gate since barely anyone even fit to begin with. I walked over Turtle rock pretty easy in both directions. On the last rock, I bumped the gate because I was too far left, ending my course with only two gates hit. My adjusted time was barely over 7 minutes. This put me in 3rd where I stayed the rest of the day. Ryan, who I bumped to 5th, moved back into 4th after his run. The top two competitors were fighting for 1st, but the Green Willy's won. For 3rd place I received a plaque, bottle of Champaign and a pair of nylon roll bar handles. The Champaign went to Natalie's parents and the roll bar grips go to Darrin for being my spotter. I was nervous about competing, but I'm really glad I did. It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the next event. Now, if they'll just run a points system instead of a timed event, I think I could do much better! :)