Olholm/Trigg win 2013 Australasian Safari
After recording the best time in the Prologue, Olholm and Trigg proceeded to finish either first or second in every stage thereafter, winning four of the event's seven daily legs between September 20 and 27. It was a welcome turn of form for Olholm, who hadn't won the Safari, despite numerous attempts in previous years.
Driving a modified 2012 Toyota Hilux, Olholm said it was good to get the monkey off his back and finish first. "It's been a long time coming - I feel fantastic, it's a great feeling for the team, my navigator Gordon, my wife Jenny at home and everyone, it's been a whole team effort. We've had a perfect run in a perfect car."
The Queensland pair had their closest competition from WA's Dave McShane and Bill Hayes, who won three legs, and were on track to win the event outright until they were slugged with a time penalty on Leg 4. For McShane, it was third time lucky at this year's Safari, making it on to the podium on his third attempt in his modified 2009 Toyota Hilux buggy.
"I'm really happy to be here. I've entered in Safari twice before - navigating in 2001 and driving last year but we didn't make it to the last day," McShane explained. "It was a tough event, and today I was pushing to try to bridge the gap. I knew Geoff would try to take it easy, today's stages were tough, it was quite scenic but I was a bit too busy to look at it."
McShane's co-driver Bill Hayes told a more colourful story about their drive home today: "We missed the junction, the gate was buried in the grass and we missed it, we went through a creek, the trip meter stopped working, then we lost intercom and we couldn't talk to each other so I had to navigate giving hand signals for directions and numbers for severity of corners."
For third placed Andrew Travis and his dad and navigator David Travis the Safari was a great adventure.
"Can we do another three days?" Andrew said. "The car's been perfect. It's time to give it a birthday present and a bit of love and we hope to come back in another two years. We're really happy to podium in our first Safari."
The only all-female pairing entered in this year's Safari, Amy Lerner and Tricia Reina, had two reasons to celebrate, the American duo completing the event and winning the Dakar Challenge component of the Safari, in which the top-placed finisher wins a paid entry into the 2014 Dakar rally in South America.
Lerner said finishing the Australasian Safari had been an incredible accomplishment. "The Safari was awesome, great fun and really challenging. We now understand what everyone's been talking about.
"Les Walkden (auto competitor) and his support crew have been amazing, the organisers have been really supportive and to do this event has been super inspiring. Our next step is to start planning Dakar."
The other two Dakar Challenge entrants in the auto category both failed to finish. Western Australia's Cliff and Louis Weichelt (1986 Toyota LandCruiser) had retired by Leg 3, with Chris May/John Cassidy (1998 Nissan Patrol), also from WA, retiring on the following Leg.
Leg 7 and the Ceremonial Finish of this year's Australasian Safari was made possible with thanks to the City of Greater Geraldton.