SportsKenya: Tribute to Eric Cecil 'Bwana Safari'

Tuesday 5 October 2010

Tribute to Eric Cecil 'Bwana Safari' - 1920 -2010

Salute to the man who together with Neil Vincent are rumoured to have founded the Safari Rally. Initially christened the Coronation Rally as part of paying tribute to Her Majesty-Queen Elizabeth for being crowned in Kenya while on safari with her husband Prince Philip; the rally eventually became known as the 'toughest race between man and machine'. The East Africa Safari Rally covered the 3 countries - Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda - till the 1970s when the strained relations between the 3 countries restricted the rally to just Kenya
The Rally became one of the highlights of the World Rally Championship until 2002 when the organisers decided to throw it out of the circuit on the excuse of safety and logistical issues. 'Sir' Eric Cecil did come back again and thought of the idea of covering the original 3 countries in cars built for the former glory days. This Rally was started to mark the 50th anniversary of the original rally and continues to this day and attracts drivers from across the globe albeit on a smaller scale, after every 2 years.

East African Classic Safari Rally - Start Point 2009 Sarova Whitesands

We would urge the motoring world led by http://www.motorsportkenya.com/ to consider application to the World Rally Championship and put this rally where it belongs we remain Africa's pride in the rallying world, thanks to this man's heritage( apparently no Rally from Africa features in the WRC circuit presently). We should consider this hopefully to tie it in with the upcoming Diamond Jubilee of the Queen's Coronation in 2012.

Rallying News:
Sebastien Loeb won his 7th WRC Driver's Championship over the weekend continuing with his record-breaking spree in the rallying world. He was the first to win 6 titles back-to-back and has now won 60 rallies on the ramp. I guess the one race that he has never won and should really test his mettle is ....guessed right! WRC right this wrong please!

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Profile of a Kenyan Sports Personality

This is a look at a Kenyan personality who may have influenced and continues to affect sports in Kenya and inspires all and sundry in sports. It is our hope that you shall reflect on this, take a moment to appreciate the sacrifices and efforts these heroes made. We do take a bow and wave our hats as we cheer true Kenyan patriots in sport!

This one takes a different twist. Having seen individuals grace this column, we have sought to recognize a team of individuals who did some exemplary work and set what has been an unbeatable national and indeed continental effort.

Kenya has never been a major power in shorter races 400m downwards. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this was a different script especially with the more exciting relay races. It is in 1968 when Kenya’s dominance came into play and with it a retinue of athletes who would become legends of their era.

The 4x400m races are usually the climax in the athletics calendar of events and in Mexico ’68, Kenya’s team including Charles Asati, Naftali Bon, Munyoro Nyamau and Daniel Rudisha ( the latter being the father to David Rudisha - current World and African champion in 800m) had other ideas coming 2^nd to USA.

In 1972, the 4 x 400m team was tweaked a bit and the final race was run by Charles Asati, Munyoro Nyamau, Robert Ouko and Julius Sang blazing the track to come up with the only other Gold medal from the Munich Games. But for this unprecedented move and none that has been done before by any other African nation, we salute our compatriots making them the Kenyan sprint legends!

Know your Sport

Swimming

Recently at some social setting we were engaged in a club quiz and one of the questions was about swimming. This sought to know which stroke was not among the competitive ones till 1956. One of our team-mates (we were 6 said that it was back-stroke while I argued it was butterfly, and the majority thought the former ….guess we should have stuck with my answer though!)

All the same, this sport has become one of the most competitive sports in any major sporting extravaganza in the form of the All-Africa Games, Commonwealth or indeed the Olympic Games. Kenya has lately featured in this very involving and energy-sapping sport. Thanks to the exploits of the Dunford brothers who have shone the spotlight on the country away from traditional sports in athletics, football, boxing and rugby. But what do you understand from the sport? Here’s a brief of it from different sources;

According to Wikipedia, swimming is based on the human act of swimming, that is, locomotion in water by self propulsion, with the goal of completing a given distance in the shortest amount of time. Swimming is distinguished from other aquatic sports (such as diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo) that involve swimming but the goal is neither speed nor endurance.

Competitive swimming consists of four strokes: butterfly, breaststroke, freestyle (or front crawl), and backstroke. When all four strokes are done during a race, it is called medley swimming (otherwise known as the individual medley, or I.M.). It is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA).

The goal of competitive swimming is usually to have the fastest time to complete a given distance. Competitive swimming became popular in the nineteenth century. Swimming is an event at the Summer Olympic Games, where male and female athletes compete in 13 of the recognized events each. Olympic events are held in a 50 meter pool (long course).

There are 36 officially recognized individual swimming events – 18 male events and 18 female events; however the International Olympic Committee only recognizes 34 of them – 17 male and 17 female. Most swimming sport events are held in special competition swimming pools, which are either long course pools such as those used in the Olympic Games (50 m) or short course pools such as those used in the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) (25 yards or 25 m). Competition pools have starting blocks from which the competitor can dive in, and possibly also touch-sensitive pads to electronically record the swimming time of each competitor.

In most competitions, the competitors are required to wear swimwear/swimsuits to adequately cover their bodies for the dip. However some suits have created controversies which have seen FINA coming up with standards to adhere to ensure competitors do not have undue advantage over each other.

The sport can also be pursued for personal fitness and is considered by fitness enthusiasts as one of the few that does an all-round job body of keeping the body in shape. It also requires healthy diets and rehydration (yes even if your body’s dipped in water)! Famous names in the sport include Mark Spitz – 7-gold medals winner 1972 Olympics and Michael Phelps – 8 gold medals - Beijing 2008.
For more info, check www.fina.org

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Tuesday 5 October 2010

Tribute to Eric Cecil 'Bwana Safari' - 1920 -2010

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