IOF to stage Java Challenge 2002 off-road event

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Off-Road Racing Federation will hold the Java Challenge 2002 with routes being drawn through West Java and Banten next month, according to the organizers here on Friday.

The challenge, which will encompass 700 kilometers in distance and run for seven days using 4-wheel drive vehicles, is hailed as the farthest and longest off-road event in Indonesia.

"The event will last from Dec. 15 to 21. Around fifty participants have registered but we will take only forty," Johnny Lintau, the IOF media and marketing director, said.

The event will start from the Hilton Hotel in Jakarta and pass through Subang, Maribaya, Mount Halimun in West Java and Bayah, Panimbangan, Anyer in Banten.

The route will cover bushland and hilly terrain with lots of rocks and rivers to navigate. "The participants will stay in a makeshift camps during the adventure," Johnny said.

Apart from its competitiveness, Java Challenge 2002, to be held in co-operation with the Tourism Department, seems to carry a tourism mission.

"We want to expand and expose our tourism sphere, particularly in this case in some parts of West Java and Banten," Johnny said.

To meet their tourism goal, the organizers have invited foreign participants. "But it seems that we have to be content that those coming from overseas will be only observers this year," he said, adding that the observers would come from Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Australia.

IOF chairman Joko Pramono said that the federations would make the Java Challenge an annual event.

"Using four-wheel drive vehicles, the participants are challenged to tackle the hurdles," Joko said.