Defender Trophy Trials Recap: featuring Nathaniel Biggs

Steve Beres and Ike Goss welcome listeners to The Underpowered Hour, share two major Jaguar Land Rover safety recalls (a widespread DC-to-DC converter issue that can cut drivetrain power and affect brakes/lights, and a 2026 Defender fuel-tank defect that could leak or cause fire), then interview Defender Trophy trials finalist Nathaniel Biggs alongside Jenna Fribley about the North American Defender Trophy event near Stave Lake, British Columbia. Nathan describes team-based challenges including knot-tying and tripod skills, a high-lift jack winch task, interviews, a ropes course, a large-group “pencil” coordination game, compass navigation to collect codes, a run carrying a rotopax, night driving, and a group recovery using people power. Day two included vehicle-focused tasks like a wood-pyramid pull, a low bridge build, an off-road course with hole-punch targets, a mudflats trials-style navigation drive, and a tire-retrieval/change challenge. They discuss unclear scoring, strong camaraderie, and Nathan advancing to a New York stage announcement for who goes to Africa, before closing with Destination Defender info and teasing “Headgasket Gate.”