By Helen Velissaris
An ex-army Land Rover has taken on the most extreme off-road racing tournament in Australia thanks to the help of the Dandenong Cranbourne RSL.
The Young Veterans group sent a team to Broken Hill in NSW to enter the seven-day Outback Challenge.
They had to navigate deserts and rivers, sand dunes and large boulders as they make their way across the rugged course.
It is the first time members of the Young Veterans team has entered the competition, and with their own ex-army Land Rover.
They have worked on the car as a therapeutic group activity and now find their handiwork going up against Mad Max style monster 4WDs.
Co-Founder of the Young Veterans Scott May is under no illusions of their chances but has been buoyed by the interest in the vehicle.
“We’re essentially entering a donkey in a Formula One race but there have been nothing but encouraging words for us,” he said in a Facebook post from Broken Hill on 23 September.
He said that it was not about winning but getting out there and giving it a go.
The Young Veterans is one of 33 teams entering the race which was due to finish on 29 September.
The group was founded by Scott and his brother Chris after they returned from their deployments in the Middle East and found a disconnect with the older veterans and their ‘contemporary’ counterparts.
The group was started under the auspices of the Dandenong RSL and has been closely connected to the community.
The RSL even pitched in to buy three of the ex-army vehicles to be shared by RSLs around the country.
On the way up to NSW the team stopped at schools, community centres and RSLs to talk about the needs of young veterans and their experiences.
“We’ve helped them get a start, but they’ve done all this themselves,” President of the Dandenong sub-branch John Wells said.
“They’ll meet the challenges brilliantly … just don’t break the car, Scotty.”
For Scott, the symbolism of the trip has been on his mind.
“We are taking something that the defence force has deemed past its serviceable life and we’ve repurposed it,” he said.
He said veterans should take on the same attitude.
“We want you, as veterans, to not just crawl up into a ball and just fall away in life, we want you to repurpose yourself.”
