By Tia Calvo
Imagine one of the most challenging off-roading locations you can. Think wild entangling jungle, rain, mud, and dangerous plants and animals. Then add eight teams of kick-ass ladies from around the world in a series of modified and lifted 4×4 trophy cars and you have Shemud – the world’s only international all-women’s extreme 4×4 challenge.
Just recently Shemud took place in the jungle region of Negeri Sembilan in Malaysia. The event involves competitors in teams of two (driver and navigator) tackling a series of short technical stages to prove their skills in navigation, driving, winching and speed. This year saw teams competing from all over the world including Thailand, Sri Lanka, Czech Republic, Australia and returning champions Italy. So what makes Shemud so special? There is no other event like it in the world that is for women only. It gives the girls a chance test and build their skills in extreme off-road conditions and encourages new women into the sport of competitive 4×4 driving.
Day one saw flag off and the first prologue challenges, with special stages involving speed, rocky terrain, narrow log bridges for balance and of course big mud holes. As it’s logistically too difficult for teams to bring in their own cars the girls had to rent their race cars locally, so the first day was all about getting a feel for the vehicles. After the first day’s challenges were complete the group convoyed deeper into the jungle to set up wilderness camp and prepare for jungle stages 1 and 2.
The following three days were jungle muddy madness. Cars broke down, got stuck, crashed… one even caught fire! The girls got muddy, bruised and tested but put a great show of driving skills. From the beginning Italy maintained a strong lead, excelling in handling their car through all areas of the challenges including rock crawling, winching, mud and speed. Both teams from Czech republic and Sri Lanka were also standouts clocking in great times with minimal DFs (Did Not Finishes). During the second day team 2 from Malaysia and Thailand rolled their car on a tight turn, with driver Sharisa Haris suffering a broken thumb. A true example of strength, Sharisa returned to competition the next day after swapping places with her navigator Waraporn Kantamala.
After four days of hard-core competition and jungle camping the event came to a close with an awards ceremony at the town of Port Dickson. Team Italy – driver Guilia Maroni and navigator Barbara Naldoni maintained their position as champions for the second consecutive year with a score of 300. When asked if this year’s event was more challenging than last the girls replied “Not really, it was very difficult last year because we were fighting up to the last stages and we only won by one point. This year we were a lot of points ahead from the second car. We didn’t feel very confident with our car, but we tried to understand how it works.”
Team Czech Republic, driver Denisa Pappova and navigator Petra Vavrova came in second with a score of 262. “We are surprised and happy” the girls said about their results. “One of the days we had some problems with our car and maybe if this problem didn’t happen we could have been first. Maybe next year (we can win), we hope.”
Shemud aims to showcase the skills of female drivers in challenging off-road terrain in addition to encouraging new women into the sport. If you’d like to be a part of next year’s event, visit www.shemud.com and write us to find out more about becoming a Shemud girl! The competition is open to women globally and of all different skill levels.