Rally - A heartwarming tale

The youth of today often get a bad press, but those are in the minority, the rest just get on with life and some meet their challenges head on. For example, on Saturday one of the temporary radio masts ‘went down’ as they say and needed urgent repairs. These masts are a vital part of the safety network on a rally especially one like the Beatson’s Mull Rally where the physical geographical extent of the route creates a range problem and the hills add their own additional vertical challenges which have to be overcome. There’s a whole team of these volunteers who arrive on the island days before the rally to set up this network and our likely lad, whom we’ll call Kenneth (cos that’s his name) is one of those dedicated stalwarts. He works under the stewardship of the team leader, one Inspector Gadget as he is reverentially known, and when he became aware of a problem, Kenneth volunteered for the task. Trouble was, the mast was mid-stage and the rally was live. Undaunted, Kenneth set off carrying one of those large ‘Really Useful’ 64 litre sealable storage boxes full of the necessary spares and tools. He walked from Torloisk to Rhudle, a distance of some 3 miles, along the side of the road, over ditches, through fields, ferns and gorse and over dry stane dykes. When he came to the wee bridge over the burn, he remembered that he wasn’t allowed on a ‘live’ stage, so instead of crossing the bridge, he waded across the burn. On arrival at the problem he set to work and effected the vital repairs. Oh, and did I mention it was raining? And we all know what the rain showers were like on Saturday afternoon, don’t we? The young man’s a star and his story deserves to be told. With young men like him, perhaps the sport and indeed the country, is still in safe hands. Gaun yersel Kenneth.