Stage set for season-opening Machakos Rally
The season-opening Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) rally in Machakos February 4-5 aims to kick off the 2023 season with a bang on four fronts; returning rallying to urban areas closer to the people, involving women in the sport's management, developing sporting relationships with county governments and creating business opportunities for ordinary people.
The Clerk-of-Course of this Rallye Sports Club-organised event, Tuta Mionki, has set in motion activities to lure more women to rallying management and has promised to deliver a memorable event.
“We want to start the season with a bang by bringing rallying closer to the people and involving the Machakos County government in our long term goal of making the country the ideal sports destination,” said the 2018 Kenya Motorsport Personality of the Year, when she paid Machakos County Executive Committee Member for Youth, Sports, Gender and Social Welfare Sky Muasia on Tuesday.
“We will start and finish the rally on February 5 at the Machakos People’s Park in a celebration of a new season with the residents of Machakos,” said Tuta, who has been working on this rally's preparation since last year with her deputy Joel Muchiri and George Njoroge.
Super Special stage
They have identified a 6km super special stage retracing the once proposed F1 circuit by the previous governor Alfred Mutua around the ridges and valleys overlooking the park and the White House, the county’s headquarters with longer competitive routes in Laiser farm 15km in the Konza area.
It promises to be the longest stage in the national championship in recent years, and the most visually attractive in Kenya.
“We want people to watch rallying more as a sense of ownership,” said Muchiri.
Muasia who was accompanied by his department’s chief Officer Bruce Isika, and Sports Director Onesmus Ituo, said the County government has mobilised the “Blue Subaru Boys” Machakos County fraternity to conduct road shows to sensitise locals in remote areas through stunts and drifts ahead of the rally.
“We also want to start our term with a bang also in sports by embracing the Machakos Rally. We have provided sponsorship in kind cash and kind and is involving the entire county led by our governor Wavinya Ndeti.”
The government will provide ambulances, fire engines, a grader, discounted accommodation, free safety marshals, waivers in outdoor advertising and tents.
“Above all, we will open Machakos People’s Park for vending by inviting our small traders to do business in our bottoms-up approach of using sports to empower the people,” said Muasia.
He said their long-term goal is to make Machakos the destination of choice for the motorsport fraternity. Njoroge said the Kenya Rally Team club (KRT) has lined up four off roads events and a season-ending rally in Machakos.
KRT is one of the fastest-growing clubs in the country tasked to popularise the 4x4 challenge competition involving ordinary SUVs and trucks that are driven through challenge obstacles like trenches, ditches, hills and water-filled mud holes.
Mioki said supplementary rules and road books will be published in due course and expects more entrants in the S-plus class for cars with relaxed homologation rules. BY DAILY NATION
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