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General >> Rally >> OWR NEWS Feb 20 06 Part One
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Message started by rosswood on 02/20/6 at 22:53:09

Title: OWR NEWS Feb 20 06 Part One
Post by rosswood on 02/20/6 at 22:53:09

Thanks to the many of you who have sent messages over the last two days with compliments as well as suggestions for improvement. The feedback is very important and means a lot to me and the many others who worked so hard to put on this event. I love to hear of your individual tales and challenges. Seems that the 2006 OWR will provide you with memories and stories for years to come. Isn’t that really one of the greatest rewards of our crazy obsession? If we could compile a summary of all the unusual occurrences over the weekend, it would make incredibly interesting reading. One of the most amazing and heartbreaking stories that most of you are not likely aware of is the saga of Car 10, Bo and Stefan Skowronnek. Up until two hours before their start time, they were frantically installing a new engine in the Volvo wagon. They rushed to the event only to suffer major engine ailments. They actually made it to Coe Hill, but by then knew that there was no way the engine could run the event. Their tale of buying, borrowing & begging oil to make it back to Kemptville has the makings of a movie

For those of you who do not follow rally Ontario, Jaroslav and Tom Bartman have had quite the time since their snowbank escapade. They were taken by ambulance to the Bancroft Hospital, then a second ambulance trip delivered them to the Kingston Hospital, as Tom need the care of a specialist for his eyes. All injuries to both of them are from the airbags going off. As of tonight Jaroslav is fine, other than a cut lip and bruises. The doctors have declared that Tom’s right eye will return to normal in time. His left eye has been damaged and the next five days will be critical. They are holed up in a motel in Kingston where Tom must remain immobile and upright, other than going each morning for a check-up with the doctor. Thanks to Richard Hepburn, Francis Richard and all others involved for the exemplary way in which you handled the situation.

The 2006 Ontario Winter Rally provided more challenges to us organizationally from the beginning than any of the other previous 21 editions. On the first route trip that Robert and I went on, the pick-up for my odometer was acting up, unbeknownst to us. It was missing the occasional pulse, but not enough to make it obvious at the time. Then the greencrew team’s odometer suffered similar problems. That resulted in another last-minute full run of the route to remedy all but a few elusive details, however there was not sufficient time to perform out usual rigorous table-topping of the instructions to catch any discrepancies.

To further complicate matters, due to the very atypical weather through January followed by a sudden deep-freeze, the roads developed more than the usual frost heaves. One key road in particular (Middle Old Hastings) was so bad that we decided to change the route quite late in the game. That resulted in another run through the affected sections. In hindsight, we should have left it alone. What do they say about hindsight being 20/20?

Then on Saturday of the event feedback from residents on Lower Old Hastings lead us to decide to cut out the final loop down there, resulting in further changes to the instructions.

Finally the weird weather cycle in the 24 hours prior to the event – snow followed by heavy rain followed by a flash deep-freeze (dropped 17 degrees in an hour and a half) left us with some roads that were skating rinks. By Saturday all but one had been sanded, so we assumed it would be as well by the time you saw it. Of course it was not.