National Rally

5/6 July 2008

Steve White was prevailed upon to operate the Kegworth Control. He recruited team of enthusiastic marshals, assembled the equipment and did all the paperwork while working away from home every week. Now that's what we call 'organisation'. Steve even found time to take hundreds of photos, some shown here. Now that's what we call 'delegation'.

Hover over a thumbnail to see when the picture was taken. Click a preview for the bigger picture. Click the big picture to hide it.

Here is Steve's rundown of the control.

Start of quotationThat was a successful event I think! We had a very hectic start, picking up a lot of competitors who had tackled the MIRA tests. I arrived at the Donington services at 13:00, thinking that I would have time to set up the control, and start putting up the tent that was big enough to walk into, and have the table inside. However, that was not to be!

Start of quotationThere were already a dozen riders waiting for the checkpoint to open as I arrived, so the tent had to wait. Fortunately, the first shift arrived early (Tony Bradley; John & Carol Evans; Peter Wright and also Carl Berrington who had come to help with the tent set-up, even though he was on a later shift). But it was too windy and we couldn't handle the large tent in the strong gusts, so Carl left us to it.

By this time, John and Carol had got to grips with the riders' control cards and had collected them in, checked the bike registrations and filled in the cards with the control details. These were given back to the riders just before the start time of 14:00 and the ball started rolling!

Start of quotationThere were one or two events during the rally, but only one to do with the bikes. We helped a taxi driver to start his car with my jump leads after the battery went flat; a small Fiat came past the control after having blown his radiator (we tried with more water, but the hole was too big and he waited 3 hours for an AA van to turn up); the police and the Highways Agency paid us visits for a natter (a quiet night I suppose); then we had to call the police contingent out from their tea break to sort out a family fracas taking place on the car park between two Asian families (looked like a wedding party). The bike breakdown was a 1930's Velo with loss of compression, which after able assistance from Steve Burton, seemed to be a burnt out exhaust valve. Another recovery job (though Carol Nash was quicker arriving than the AA).

Apart from all that, we had 304 riders pass through our control! We closed the control at 07:20 on Sunday.

Thank you to you all, for turning out on a wet and windy occasion, it was very much appreciated by everyone, especially the rally riders.End of quotation

- Steve.

Rob Winnett confirmed that he was there.

Start of quotationI did a very wet and windy shift on Saturday evening with Steve White and Tony Bradley. Last time I saw Tony was nearly forty years ago! Looks well and fit for 21 (and a bull's eye).

Relief crew was Mary Grant and Mark Northcott.End of quotation

- Rob.

Peter Wright aka Wishbone sent his perspective of the event.

Start of quotationDrove up the motorway on a very windy day to Kegworth services to join other volunteers (or is that pressganged) to help out with the marshalling at the checkpoint for National Rally. On arrival Steve (top man or chief marsall) was already there, surrounded by many entrants waiting for the rally to start. John and Steve were filling in their cards ready for the start including, much to my surprise, some members of the Vespa owners club on their *#@!%$!

While we were waiting for the start we attempted to put up a tent which was to be used by the intrepid souls doing the marshalling for the whole duaration of the rally, Steve and Tony Bradley amongst them. Have you tried putting up a tent which Einstein would have struggled with ? And in a gale force wind? Needless to say we gave up before we became the next plane to land at East Midlands Airport!

Start of quotationAt exactly 2pm, with all the entrants cards handed back, everyone set off (about 20 or so) and we thought we would have a quite time. But before we could relax there were bikes arriving from the Leicester checkpoint. These modern bikes sure are fast!

Spent rest of my shift until 5.30pm looking after, and at, many more bikes. Lots of BMWs, a BSA A10 and a 1935 Velo between darting into Tony Bradley's camper van to dodge the rain.

All in all it was a very enjoyable afternoon, but then I am easly pleased.

Thanks to my fellow to volunteers for making it a good afternoon.End of quotation

- Wishbone.

This was how Steve organised the shift rota:

  14:00 to 18:00            
Steve White              
Tony Bradley              
John Evans              
Carol Evans              
Pete Wright (Wishbone)              
               
    18:00 to 22:00        
Steve White              
Tony Bradley              
Rob Winnett              
Carl Berrington              
               
        22:00 to 04:00  
Steve White              
Tony Bradley              
Mark Northcott              
Mary Grant              
               
      20:00 to 01:00    
Steve Burton              
               
              04:00 to 08:00
Steve White              
Tony Bradley              
Pete Martin              

 

Steve added

Start of quotationVery special mention must be made of Tony Bradley's contribution of the camper van and his time for the whole period of the rally. We couldn't have done it without him, as we couldn't put the tent up because of the very high wind (even with three of us trying to hold it down!)End of quotation

- Steve.

Start of quotationIf you look at the sixth from the end, you will see Andrew and the Bonnie.End of quotation

- Mary Grant.

These photos are trimmed and compressed. If you want an original let me know where to email it. They are about 500kbytes each so I will warn you when it is about to be sent!

Open quote Five Stars because ... it was not written by Ben,
(got me own back) Close quote