Zara Tindall And Lewis Moody Join UK Invictus Team For Jaguar Land Rover Driving Challenge

July 25, 2017 by Jaguar Land Rover

•Jaguar Land Rover hosts Driving Challenge training session for the UK Invictus team

•Jaguar Land Rover ambassadors, Zara Tindall and Lewis Moody, helped seven team members hone their driving skills at the Eastnor Castle Land Rover Experience centre

•The UK Team is delivered by a partnership between Help for Heroes, The Royal British Legion and the Ministry of Defence

•17 nations will compete for the first medal of the games in the Jaguar Land Rover Driving Challenge

•Jaguar Land Rover is presenting partner of the Invictus Games, which takes place in Toronto from 23rd September, and is proud sponsor of the UK team

Whitley, UK, 24th July 2017 – Jaguar Land Rover kick-started the UK's Invictus Games preparations with a special full-day training session and selection event for the Games' opening event: the Jaguar Land Rover Driving Challenge. Seven members of the UK team headed to the Land Rover Experience Centre at Eastnor Castle, joined by Land Rover ambassadors Zara Tindall and Lewis Moody, to hone their skills on the legendary off-road tracks.

The Invictus Games is an international adaptive sporting event for wounded injured and sick servicemen and women, which was first held in London in 2014. This year's Games kick off in Toronto on 23rd September, with the Jaguar Land Rover Driving Challenge marking the first opportunity for all 17 competing nations to win a medal.

Only two of the UK team will be competing in the Driving Challenge in Toronto, so everyone was out to impress at Eastnor. Splitting into navigator and driver pairings the UK team headed out in a fleet of Land Rover Discoverys to test their communication, teamwork and planning skills on the swampy, steep and narrow off-road routes of Eastnor Castle. Earlier in the day the team had tested their speed and precision in a slalom challenge in Jaguar F-PACEs at Cotswold Airport.

Lewis Moody MBE, England Rugby World Cup winner, and Zara Tindall MBE, Olympic Medallist, were offering tips and words of wisdom to the competitors throughout the day. Both are Invictus Games supporters and Land Rover ambassadors with unrivalled insight into preparation for competing at the highest level.

Zara Tindall MBE said: 'The Invictus Games is a very special event, and I've loved meeting all the competitors here today. It was really hard to select just two people to take part in the Driving Challenge in Toronto; each and every one of those we met has the will to win and would do a fantastic job. Once again, it's an absolute honour for me to be involved with Jaguar Land Rover and with the Invictus Games and I am really looking forward to watching these guys when they actually get to compete at the Games.'

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Lewis Moody added: 'What an amazing day out supporting our Invictus heroes before they head out to Toronto to represent the UK on one of the biggest stages in the world. Jaguar Land Rover is clearly a great supporter of these guys, and having met some of them, the rest of the UK public should be too. They're real heroes and I've no doubt they'll do us proud come September 23rd.'

After a close-fought day of competition Gareth Patterson and Olaf Jones were revealed as the two team members selected to represent the UK at the Invictus Games.

Gareth, said: 'We drove the Discovery and F-PACE hard today, throwing everything we could at them to secure our place in the Driving Challenge in Toronto. Thankfully the cars performed brilliantly and we had Zara and Lewis pushing us on throughout.'

Olaf, continued: 'It's a privilege to have a shot at winning the UK's first medal of the Games, and I just hope we can repay the tremendous support of Jaguar Land Rover by making it a gold one!'

Jaguar Land Rover is continuing its support of Invictus Games in its role as presenting partner and proud sponsor of the UK Team for 2017 following the successful inaugural games in London 2014 and subsequent games in 2016. Since 2013, Jaguar Land Rover has hired over 200 former servicemen and servicewomen in the UK, working closely with the Career Transition Partnership, the Ministry of Defence's official provider of Armed Forces resettlement. The UK Team is delivered by a partnership between Help for Heroes, The Royal British Legion and the Ministry of Defence.