ONYX Team Members Create Memories on Trek
Story by Daisy Hutzell-Rodman // Photography by Bill Sitzmann
When a vehicle company reboots a legendary competition that combines elements of “Survivor” with company team building and a bit of fun in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, Land Rover employees get the time of their lives.
Three employees of ONYX Land Rover in Omaha recently found this out.
Land Rover enthusiasts will remember (and perhaps have fond memories of) the Camel Trophy, a competition for 4 x 4s that ran from 1980-2000 and gained such popularity that, in 1989, more than 1 million amateur drivers applied for one of 28 spots in the 1,300-mile-competition through the Amazon basin. These special Land Rovers still command a high price—in 2018 a Camel Trophy Land Rover Discovery 200TDI came up for sale with a price tag of $59,000.
The latest Land Rover venture is known as is Trek. It was established in 1996, and is a competition designed to challenge and educate Land Rover retailer employees from the U.S. and Canada. In order to become part of the Trek, employees need to be in good standing with the brand and show commitment to their job along with a dedication to teamwork. They also need to be physically fit, as the trek is a demanding experience.
In 2021, Land Rover chose ONYX Automotive to be a part of this experience. In September, ONYX Automotive invested $11,000 plus the cost of a Defender 110 ($90,000) to send Sales Manager Michael Igwenma, Service Manager Joshua Stahr, and Technician Will Heimann to Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. The competition rules state that the three team members be from different departments, including sales and tech.
Once ONYX Automotive was chosen to send a team, Land Rover sent a blank white flag to the dealership. This was to be the flag that represented the team’s district and their culture. Many of the 70 teams decided to screenprint their flags, but ONYX Automotive took a different approach, hand-painting their flag. The image included the skyline of Omaha on one side, with Chimney Rock on the other and a throne in the middle.
The trio traveled by plane to North Carolina on Sept. 19, with physically fit Igwenma and off-roading enthusiast Heimann meeting at the airport. Although they both work for Land Rover, they don’t work together much, and the two were able to spend time learning about each other and their families. As the teams gathered that day, they were given their camping gear, which included a single-person tent, inflatable mattress, and a Trek-branded blanket for each participant; a GPS unit; and a compass. That night, Land Rover hosted a briefing dinner at which the participants learned more about their options for the obstacles and the course, and instructors for Land Rover were available for the teams to ask questions. They also had time to gather with teams from other areas, which proved important the next day. Stahr knew a technician who had come to Omaha from the Denver store and used that as an icebreaker to make friends with the trio from Denver.
The Camel Trophy included lots of driving, and 10 special tasks designed to test teamwork, driving skills, and endurance. The Land Rover Trek was less driving, but includes 15 total challenges—and the first challenge happened the night of Sept. 19. The trio presented their team flag at a ceremony, explaining why it represented them. The Omaha flag was painted to represent the team leaving their “castle” to visit a new land.
“THAT TERRAIN WAS SLOPPY-WET. IT WAS COOL TO SEE WHAT THAT VEHICLE COULD DO.”
— JOSHUA STAHR
Following time around a campfire, the Omaha trio retired to their tents, as they knew their day would start early.
Around sunrise, each of the 70 teams used GPS coordinates they received to hike up a mountain 2 1/2 miles and find their vehicles. The 2022 Land Rover Trek Defender came fully loaded with an exterior pack, headlight power wash, electronic active differential with torque vectoring by braking, and breakfast.
“There were breakfast sandwiches wrapped in tin foil under the hood,” said Heimann, who was designated as the navigator. He has often traveled to Colorado and western Nebraska to off-road with his wife and his brothers.
The Land Rover Omaha team spent the next eight hours navigating obstacles in drizzly, muddy conditions. They participated in a timed obstacle in which they removed and replaced a tire. They navigated a rat trap obstacle in which they performed what Igwenma called a “180” around a bunch of pilings that the vehicle could not touch.
“That was the one we spent the most time trying to navigate,” Igwenma said.
Another fun obstacle was one in which the team needed to move puzzle pieces together to form a pyramid. The obstacle required the team members to assemble puzzle pieces into three parts of a pyramid. They then moved these parts, using a pulley system and two vehicles in drive and reverse modes to settle the blocks on top of one another. The Omaha team involved their new-found friends from Denver to finish this task.
The team fondly remembers an obstacle called “Punch Your Ticket,” for a few reasons.
“I had the most drive time in this,” Stahr said. “That terrain was sloppy-wet. It was cool to see what that vehicle could do.”
Heimann said his favorite part of the experience was being able to put their heads together to problem-solve, and this Punch Your Ticket obstacle was proof of that fun. Stahr said he thought they were the only team to hop out of the car and try to problem-solve this obstacle, and in the end, the team had Stahr reverse up the obstacle in order to make it over the slick, muddy road.
Add to that the fact that Heimann had been in the hospital having his appendix removed nine days prior. “The doctor said as long as I could handle the pain, I’d be fine.” He navigated through the bumps and craters in the off-road terrain with nothing more than Tylenol for help.
Then there was the detective work. One of the team’s other favorite obstacles included using GPS to find words hidden in the trees. Those words were “fuse,” “brake,” and “switch.” To achieve the goal of the obstacle, Stahr read through the manual, Heimann grabbed a flashlight and began looking for part numbers, and Igwenma thought through the clues and began looking for the fuse boxes. Together, they found the part number for the fuse that solved the riddle.
At 2 p.m., the competition was finished, and the event ended with a ceremony at which the team learned their standing in the race.
“We figured we’d be in eighth or ninth place,” Stahr said. The trio was savvy to the fact that this was their first time at the event, and several other teams in their wave of 10 had attended before.
Stahr continued, “We got to the top five, and they had not announced our name, and we were pretty happy.”
In the end, Land Rover Omaha ended in fourth place. Better yet, they ended five points away from third place, and seven points away from second place. On Sept. 21, the team flew home to Omaha. They could have driven their unique Defender, now available at ONYX Automotive for $105,000, but they opted to have it shipped.
While one appeal for winning was the chance to advance to the next Trek challenge, and then, potentially become the representation for Land Rover U.S. in England, general manager Scott Sutton said the important part was the team spirit and enthusiasm for the brand that the competition instilled in his employees.
Besides, Sutton continued, “There’s nothing more Land Rover than this.”
Visit onyxautomotive.com/new-vehicles/land-rover for more information.
