SportsKenya: Safari Rally tatters on

Wednesday, 25 June 2008

Safari Rally tatters on

Image courtesy of Motorsport Kenya
For what used to be one of the rallying world's favourite race, the Safari Rally ( KCB Safari Rally...pardon me for missing that), another year out of the World Rally Championship means another missed opportunity and less profile.
2002 marked the last year that the event was to be in the WRC circuit and the rallying chiefs threatened to throw the rally out which they eventually did. Come 2003 the rally was competing for reinstatement to the circuit and I remember having to vote over the Internet to have this done. Again an exercise in futility.
Among the issues the WRC personnel raised was the
- sponsorship which was inconsistent,

- lack of proper safety measures especially spectators,
- rising costs of shipping and transportation,
- media rights and coverage,
- unpredictable weather and climatic conditions ( well this one was a bit low)
among others.

True some of the issues raised were worth considering but I still feel the event CAN & SHOULD BE REINSTATED. Watching some of the events of the WRC circuit shows a serious miss of the African circles and also the rough-and-tumble which Safari Rally was famous for. Even the most experienced drivers can confess that this represented one of the best rallies to prove your mettle and the manufacturers to prove their vehicles too.
Having some Kenyans in the decision-making bodies of the FIA and WRC has not helped our cause either and as usual the Government went into slumber right after the hyped campaign in 2003. Can't the Minister for Sports and Youth along with the Tourism one work something out ?
That way, the WRC would ensure true world coverage of rallying events as well as retention of one of the oldest rallies (before it fell by the way side).

Sidenote:
I read somewhere about the Pirelli Rally Star Promotion for the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Why do they always rank us with the Arabs ? It's like we can't exist on our own ! I lament !
The promotion's intent is to invest in growth of rallying worldwide and, in particular, help younger competitors reach World Championship level. The successful drivers from each year will then contest a series of six World Championship rallies the following season, driving identical Group N or Super 2000 cars supplied and serviced under an FIA contract with a specialist preparation company. The competitors must be under the age of 27 on 1st January in the year of the Regional Championship.
The programme will be structured through the four FIA Regional Championships, with one driver emerging from each of the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Africa regions.

Noble idea, wrong and tedious approach ,methinks!

I believe the most effective way of raising and developing drivers is having more events from the WRC circuit in the specific countries- like the Safari Rally....tsk !
That way the local talent will be able to actually interact with the top cream of the sport and not wait in the wings like this competition portends.

UPDATE ON THIS YEAR'S KCB SAFARI RALLY:
* The Rally start tomorrow Friday, with the cars being flagged off at 3.00 p.m, before proceeding to the 1st in 3 spectator stages at the Uhuru Park at the heart of the City. The other spectator stages include the Elementaita Lodge (Saturday) in the Rift Valley; with the final one being at the East Africa Portland at Athi River just off Mombasa Road but much closer to the city.

* This year's rally will be the shortest ever covering just over 668km compared to the longest one held in 1971 (covering East Africa states)-6400km.This will be the 56th rally since it started as the Coronation Rally back in 1952-marking the coronation of then Princess Elizabeth into a Queen. So much for royalty,can't we have a semblance of what the rally used to be back then ?

* WRC and FIA officials will be attending the event again but let's not get excited yet. The last 5 years have meant nothing with these guys around. We want to see the event back at the WRC.

* Most of the rally cars will not be the works team i.e. the manufacturers' group A cars competing in other WRC events ( since it's not a WRC event anyway). Majority will be from Group N and classical rally cars. Watch out for Ian Duncan's Ford Mustang ( something like the one next)

* KCB will be the main sponsors with Triton ,iWay, KICC among others sponsors.

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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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Wednesday, 25 June 2008

Safari Rally tatters on

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