For those of you who don't know, I have been involved in the local rally scene almost since I moved to the island. I marshalled my first rally (up at the Q, as I found out it is called) in May 1990, and have been doing it ever since.
When I turned 40, I found myself running up and down a road. I said to myself "You are getting too old for this, and for standing out in the rain", so I transferred to become a radio operator. The main advantages of this is that it is done in the car (mostly), in the dry and sitting down. Mind you, my friend Dot puts me to shame. She is a pensioner, and still marshalls - not just the rallies but the bikes at the TT and the Southern 100, not to mention Jurby (oh did I mention it? I said not to mention it!)
Anyway, to cut a long story short (too late!), I joined the Manx Motorsport Marshalls Association (MMSMA, pronouced 'maz-ma'), and Saturday was their training day. Neither Dot nor I knew what to expect, but it turned out to be a really interesting day. One of the most interesting sessions was by someoene I didn't think much of before Saturday. Finding out exactly the powers and liabilities of a marshall (and I am still a marshall, even when I am sitting in my radio car!) was really illuminating - such as finding out what information was needed to get a summons and what we could doa s reasonable force.
In the afternoon, marshalls and radio operators had seperate sessions. While the marshalls were being shown a variety of equipment used by recovery and medical crews (including blades to cut crash-helmets off), the radio operators were learning about the new system. Sitting in the classroom? Hardly! BP said "I need 10 cars - put the radios in and of you go to drive the stages and check the coverage at all the likely radio points". It turns out that the new system is so much better than the old. On the old system, you would struggle to hear what was happening more than 10 miles away - you might hear control but you were unlikely to hear the other end. This resulted in a lot of 'walk over' because noone could here. Now you can be in Port Erin and ehar operators in Ramsey and Andreas at the other end of the island!
In the evening was the Marshalls' Supper. And it was good. Not only a good dinner, but I came away with meals for 2 at the Cherry Orchard and a case of beer from the raffle!
When I turned 40, I found myself running up and down a road. I said to myself "You are getting too old for this, and for standing out in the rain", so I transferred to become a radio operator. The main advantages of this is that it is done in the car (mostly), in the dry and sitting down. Mind you, my friend Dot puts me to shame. She is a pensioner, and still marshalls - not just the rallies but the bikes at the TT and the Southern 100, not to mention Jurby (oh did I mention it? I said not to mention it!)
Anyway, to cut a long story short (too late!), I joined the Manx Motorsport Marshalls Association (MMSMA, pronouced 'maz-ma'), and Saturday was their training day. Neither Dot nor I knew what to expect, but it turned out to be a really interesting day. One of the most interesting sessions was by someoene I didn't think much of before Saturday. Finding out exactly the powers and liabilities of a marshall (and I am still a marshall, even when I am sitting in my radio car!) was really illuminating - such as finding out what information was needed to get a summons and what we could doa s reasonable force.
In the afternoon, marshalls and radio operators had seperate sessions. While the marshalls were being shown a variety of equipment used by recovery and medical crews (including blades to cut crash-helmets off), the radio operators were learning about the new system. Sitting in the classroom? Hardly! BP said "I need 10 cars - put the radios in and of you go to drive the stages and check the coverage at all the likely radio points". It turns out that the new system is so much better than the old. On the old system, you would struggle to hear what was happening more than 10 miles away - you might hear control but you were unlikely to hear the other end. This resulted in a lot of 'walk over' because noone could here. Now you can be in Port Erin and ehar operators in Ramsey and Andreas at the other end of the island!
In the evening was the Marshalls' Supper. And it was good. Not only a good dinner, but I came away with meals for 2 at the Cherry Orchard and a case of beer from the raffle!
2 comments:
Okkkkkkk confused Canadian here...what exactly are rallies???
Are they races???
Rallies are timed car races held on a specified course against the clock. The object is to complete the list of sections (known as stages) in the shortest total time o win. There are different prizes for the different types of cars.
Ok?
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