Last One Standing 2025

Last One Standing: Fun, Funds, and Flex at Hollister Hills

Every October, the Santa Cruz 4 Wheel Drive Club organizes its annual fundraising event. The goal is simple: have fun and gather funds to support off-road activities. Club members agreed that all funds raised during the event are later distributed across various off-road organizations.

The Last One Standing 2025 was held at Hollister Hills (Central District) in October 2025.

This year’s competition gathered 11 contestants, divided into three classes: Side-by-Side (SxS), Sportsman, and Unlimited.

🏁 The Rules & Challenges

Rules are simple:

The SxS and Sportsman (up to 37-inch tires) classes run one course setup.
The Unlimited class (37-inch or larger tires), which mostly consists of purpose-built buggies, faces a more challenging trial: more rocks, more articulation, more thrills and excitement.
Every contestant has a five-minute time limit to navigate the course.

Every year, a committee is responsible for setting up the obstacle course and deciding how to balance the challenges with the time limit. This year featured four obstacles. All classes started from the same line, but the course later diverged based on the rig configuration.

🧗 Obstacle Breakdown

Articulation Challenge: This first course required a lot of articulation. Every class descended a small waterfall, which didn’t cause any problems. Afterwards, the SxS and Sportsman classes ran up a hill, through a series of steps, and finished by the start line. The Unlimited Class rigs rolled through the so-called “small Rubicon,” which demanded bigger tires and a lot of flex. That was the first time we needed to pull a winch line to unblock one of the contestants!
“Blindfolded” Challenge: This obstacle is called “Blindfolded” because drivers cannot see anything; they rely entirely on instructions from their passenger. As an additional challenge, everything takes place inside a mud pit with a lot of standing water and a very slippery surface.
Speed Play: The third obstacle played a lot on speed —wooden logs covered in water. There were two ways to go through: good and better. The good way was to slow down and take every log separately. The better way was to go full throttle and rely on suspension. The Unlimited Class had an extra challenge: climbing over a bunch of tractor tires.
Teeter-Totter and Pipes: The fourth and final obstacle involved a teeter-totter and concrete pipes. This was also the spot where one of our contestants unfortunately lost a rear driveline.

🏆 Results and Giving Back

Congratulations to the winners:

SxS: Kevin Price
Sportsman: Mark Clark
Unlimited: Bernie Martin

During the event, the club proudly raised $8,500! Additionally, the club contributed an extra $900, bringing the total funds available for distribution to $9,400. All proceeds are directed toward helping to fight to keep public lands open for off-road recreation. Furthermore, the Club decided to transfer an extra $1,000 for Jacob’s Heart, a local charity which provides children’s cancer support services.

Thank you to all sponsors for their generous support!

Save the date for Last One Standing 2026: October 17, 2026!