2003 Swampswimmer Rally Winners

SWAMPSWIMMER 30

And The Winners Are…

Swampswimmer 29

The Rally Master and the Hurricane.

 Sometimes it’s nice to be “first”. And sometimes it’s not. There is always a chance that the weather will not co-operate and, while Rally day was wonderful, the night before was definitely not. Remember the hurricane? It hit Bobcaygeon too. While all you guys were preparing to arrive Saturday morning, the Rally crew was watching some phenomenal weather blow through. It certainly made for interesting trail clean-up just minutes before course open. A special thanks goes to Lynda & Bob Redshaw, Animal Houghton & the rest of the volunteers who cleared all of Rathburn and Concession Lake trails in record time. The rally could not have started without their diligence.

This year was fun for me. Last year’s learning curve was steep to say the least. Running Swampswimmer, an event that I have enjoyed ever since Wayne and I joined 13 years ago, was something I had wanted to have a go at. Realizing many years ago that events like this one couldn’t happen without club member support, I want to thank the 50 volunteers, including some CO4x4 alumni, who came out and worked very hard all day long to make it a success. It was truly a blast to see Bruce Britnell, one of the club’s original members, along with Doug Tate, a long time member, come back to Swampswimmer. For Marty Britnell, it was his first Swampswimmer, but I really don’t think it will be his last. There were 7 “new generation” children out for this event. Most of who have been born into Central and are now coming out to work events. Don’t be mistaken, they pulled cable, worked check-points & kept track of missing vehicles. They cleared trails & slugged through mud to hook up vehicles. They were out with their parent (s) doing what they have come to call their own hobby – Four-wheeling. None of the children out that weekend have their licenses as yet, but they are the next to come – look out!! For me, the absolute BEST part of Swampswimmer 29 was greeting Terry & Shayna at the end and having Terry tell me that I drove Shayna crazy with the lack of check-points. The first check-point was 3 ½ hours into the Rally and Shayna had quite a bit to say about my strategy this year. It was fun to hang out at Flynn’s, where we had built in a 20 minute break (rallytime) and have people who were running late come in, wait 20 minutes and start back out again……makes you go hmmmmm.

 Unfortunately, there was an accident this year (on highway) when one of the Suzuki’s lost a drive shaft and did an end-over onto the shoulder. For those of you who have been wondering how they are doing, both were at work on the Monday morning and doing fine.        

The crowd on Sunday was, once again this year, brutal. They chose to announce 2^nd place before 1^st and 3^rd once we had the 3 remaining teams called to the front. Barb and Alleycat had actually gone over to where Terry & Shayna were sitting and were staring at them through the top 10 announcements. Once we had the 3 teams come to the front, they then ran up and sat on the floor in front of them to stare some more. Throughout the top 10, as the penalty times dropped below 3 minutes once we got to 7^th position, you could hear the groans from the competitors. They all knew it was going to be a real tight finish. And it was. With 4^th position at 00:01:08 for Alex Medeot and Jon Wilson, and 3^rd at 00:00:25 for Mark Mallalieu and John Bain, they crowd grew louder with disbelief. 2^nd place went to Terry Wagg & Shayna Reid with a penalty time of 00:00:19. Daniel Lei and Tony Wai placed 1^st with an outstanding penalty time of 00:00:11 – using a pencil and calculator. The most ingenious thing that a competitor came up with was Daniel & Tony, who used a bicycle odometer to keep track of average speed. Good one guys!!

 We gave a get-away package to the “worse” placing couple. They received a night at the Three Islands Motel and breakfast for 2 at Lock 32. We figured that after a day of rallying, and placing so poorly, they may need a weekend away to fix it all up! We also decided that a helper should be the recipient of the Bridgestone/Firestone tires this year. A draw produced Bill Smith as the winner. A very happy Bill was presented with the certificate.

 Thanks again to all the people who supported the rally. I would like to also thank Southwestern Ontario Four-wheel Drive Club and the Lada Club for bringing a contingent of helpers. A special thanks goes to Pam Warren from the Lada Club who quickly volunteered to take pictures with my digital camera and, as a result, we have loads of pictures for the slide-show.                                                     

See you at Swampswimmer 30!!!   Trish

This Page last updated 06/30/2008 10:45 AM

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