A stonemason from Ventry in Kerry will represent Ireland in the Land Rover G4 Challenge in April, a four-week adventure event taking place in four different time zones around the world. From Brian Byrne at Eastnor Park
Paul McCarthy came through a gruelling international selection process last week at Eastnor Park in England, to be the Irish contender among participants from 16 nations in what is billed as the biggest 4x4 adventure ever undertaken.
Different vehicles will be used at different stages - the Freelander on the US east coast, the Defender in South Africa, the Range Rover in Australia, and the Discovery on the west coast of the US.
At Eastnor, each competing country - Saudi Arabia, Canada, Netherlands, Spain, the US, Australia, France, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Belgium, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Ireland and Britain - had two representatives.
The other Irishman was Warren Keogh from Blessington. And the camaraderie between people from so many nations that developed in that few days was apparent in the way that everybody quite literally mucked in to help out those in trouble, even though the overall event itself was highly competitive.
All the while they were being both instructed, monitored and scored by the Land Rover instructors, to decide which half of them would be going home with no further involvement, the other half
going home to train and rest for what will be a more gruelling adventure in April.
In all there were 29 men and three women at Eastnor, the youngest competitor being a 25-year-old from Spain and the oldest a 45-year-old from the US. They were a very mixed bunch, from the Irish accountant and stonemason to the Belgian fighter pilot.
And there are many intriguing personal stories in the challenge so far, such as the Canadian competitors who ended up more than just sharing a tent on the US national selection event, but also getting married in Las Vegas where it was centred, in their G4 Land Rover gear.
It is all part of the biggest promotional event that Land Rover has ever organised, and the logistics alone of getting the special G4 versions of the vehicles around the world for the event is probably a nightmare in itself for Land Rover's Vehicle Operations team.
Following the Friday afternoon announcement of the finalists, Paul McCarthy said the whole week of swimming, kayaking, abseiling and rock climbing, and off-road driving had been "fantastic".
"Now I need time to plan ahead," he said. "I need time off, to work out what I need to do to have everything lined up for the Challenge. I want to focus on it and not have to worry about anything else in the background at home."