Folks, As you all know we are just 3 weeks away from staging Round 1 of the 2009 World Rally Championship with Rally Ireland starting from Enniskillen on Thursday the 29th of January. As Chief Marshal I have spent the past three months recruiting nearly 2,500 marshals from the four corners of Ireland, north and south.
We are in good shape to fulfil our Safety Plan requirements for the event and we have been receiving massive support as usual from motorclubs the length and breath of the country.
However there is an additional pool of people we want to resource as Marshals for the event.......Competitors !
Events up and down the county rely weekend after weekend on the goodwill and expertise of the countries 'hardcore' marshal groups. I think it's important that well known and respected competitors like yourselves demonstrate that you have a solidarity with them and will stand with them in helping make Rally Ireland a fantastic success again in 2009.
You may have already signed up to help on one or more of the stages through your own motorclub and if so thanks and we look forward to seeing you at the end of the month. If you haven't already signed up to help please consider giving a few hours of your time over the weekend.
To give you some idea of the numbers we require in terms of marshals we need approximately 700 on Leg 1, 600 on Leg 2 and a staggering 900 on Leg 3. Add to this a requirement to man the service Park for 24hrs per day for 4 days you see the mammoth task ahead of us.
In 2007 the Gardai estimated that 25,000 spectators watched the Donegal Bay stage and 35,000 were in Mullagmore of the final televised stage. These are the sort of numbers we expect to encounter in 2009 so we will rely heavily on experienced Motorsport people on the ground to help us. I have attached some overview maps and time schedule of the three legs of the event which may help you plan any help you can provide to us.
I'm appealing to each and every one of you to come and help out on the weekend. You can contact me directly by mobile or email address if there is something you can do for us and I look forward to hearing from you.
For overview maps and schedules please see www.rallyireland.org.
Thanks again.
Paul Goodman Chief Marshal Rally Ireland FIA World Rally Championship 2009.
