The HERO Challenge One crews gather at new watering hole
*Scrutineering for round one at the Somerset Boat Club
*Teams make final preparations on eve of the 2026 championship start
The much anticipated 2026 HERO Challenge Championship is ready to begin on Saturday as crews gathered at a new watering hole, the Somerset Boat Club for scrutineering beside the canal.
Most seemed ready for the keen competition that lies ahead of over 120 miles of the Somerset and Devon lanes, with seven regularities and eight tests, an enthusiasm that has produced a bumper entry of 100 cars.
Mike Tarr and Mark Shipman, Triumph Dolomite Sprint
Mike; “We're really looking forward to it, we can't wait. This time we're having a change around, normally, Mark drives and I navigate, but we swapped around, he’s been sacked as the driver, but only because he’s got a funny leg!
Mark commented; “This is going to be good, yeah, it is one heck of a field 100 cars, a huge entry. The Dolomite Sprint is well and ready, although it's a bit slow, a bit sluggish. I think you get good ones and bad ones and this one's not the best at the moment, but I'm sure it will be later on! Mike was tinkering under the bonnet yesterday, and he still couldn't get it really sorted, but it'll be right.”
Harry and Dick Baines, Austin Mini Cooper S
As the 2024 winner of the Golden Roamer Award for top navigator, Harry just missed doing the double in 2025 by half a point! He and driver Dick, who was the double driver’s champ by winning the HERO-ERA Cup in both 2024 and 2025, are both here to have a crack at the HERO Challenge Championship.
Harry; “We are always in the competitive spirit, but mainly we're here to enjoy ourselves. It'll be tough down here with the Somerset and Devon roads, you know, they are very narrow roads, and there's a lot of farming going on. The grass is being cut everywhere, so the first cut is for the silage, (said the farmer) so I think it could be interesting, you know, with tractors and trailers about. It's seasonal and they're all in full swing. So we'll see, but it'llbe challenging, these one day events are always good.
“It will depend on who gets a clear run, but also there's a lot of good navigators and some good fast drivers, but it's just whether you get through the traffic or not.”
Mark Lillington and Mark Bramall, VW Golf GTi
Mark Bramall;. “Absolutely can't wait. We've been looking forward to this for so long, it seems such a long time since we were out last, but we are really pleased to be here.”
Mark Lillington explained that the VW was not the car that we saw him in for the HERO Challenge finale in 2025 so why the change from the MGB?
Mark; “The MGB is still broken. It needed a lot of repair work after all the battering we’d given it last season.”
As a driver who was involved at the challenge championship finale in Chepstow, he was in a three way fight to the bitter end. And it was really, really close, so did Mark think the 2026 championship will be as close?
Mark; “It is bound to be, just look at the entry, but we want to try to be close at the top. Whether we're in there or not, is a different matter. This is a new car and a different class as well, so it is going to be interesting!”
The union flag will wave the first car off on Saturday morning from the Holiday Inn Rally HQ at Taunton at 8.15 am, and the best of luck to all the crews.