All systems go for Mayo Stages Rally

All systems go for rally


Eamonn Walsh and Killian Duffy aim to run the best Mayo Stages Rally yet

Feature
Daniel Carey

SITTING in the foyer of a Qatar hotel, Australian rally driver Dale Moscatt says “G’day” and, in the style of Simpsons actor Troy McClure, adds: “You might remember me from such films as …”
Cut to footage of a car flying over a hill, one of the most spectacular pieces of video captured for the seven-minute YouTube advertisement put together by the organisers of next weekend’s Mayo Stages Rally. Accessible using the search words ‘Mayo Stages Rally promo’, it’s believed to be one of the first of its kind in the world.
When Eamonn Walsh and Killian Duffy took on the roles of Clerk of the Course and Deputy Clerk of the Course respectively for the 2010 Mayo Stages Rally, they resolved, in Duffy’s words, ‘to run the best event possible’. The arrival in Mayo of Norwegian World Rally Car driver Mads Ostberg has got people talking, as has a prize draw to determine his co-driver for the event. Mark Kilgannon from Kiltimagh was the lucky man selected by country music star Mick Flavin last week.
“I suppose it’d be the equivalent of having PΡdraig Harrington playing in Claremorris, and having someone just randomly playing a round with him!” Duffy explains. Ostberg finished eighth in Rally Sweden earlier this year, and as well as increasing local interest, his presence in Mayo will attract ‘hard-core fans who will travel from far and wide’ to see him in action, according to Duffy.
The McWilliam Park Hotel is rally HQ and title sponsor. Service will be located next to the hotel, and the organisers are promising a car wash going into service and ‘live’ results coming out. An online rally guide has been prepared for competitors, and two TV production crews will be on hand to record the action.
Staging the rally is a huge logistical operation, and preparations have been ongoing since last September. Claremorris businessman Eamonn Walsh was Clerk of the Course for a single stage in Kiltimagh in 2003, but it’s Duffy’s first time being a named official.
“It’d take over your life, or damn near it!” he laughs. “You’re gone most evenings with meetings, but it’s exciting. It’s a different kind of enjoyment – it’s not that people are going to be coming up congratulating you; it’s a great personal satisfaction. It’s completely different from competing.”
Having got the support of ‘a great team’, Duffy is confident that the weekend will run smoothly. The winner of the 2008 event (as co-driver to Aaron MacHale), he’s content to stay off the road next weekend. Besides, he’ll see enough of it this year via his role as a co-driver on the WRC circuit. A secondary school teacher by trade, he’s now a member of Team Abu Dhabi, a junior scholarship programme for young drivers from the UAE capital.
As co-driver for 23-year-old Ahmed Al Mansoori, he enjoyed ‘some great stage times’ last year but not great results because, as he says with a laugh, ‘we usually ended up in the scenery’. But the man beside him is learning fast, and they finished fourth overall in the Qatar International Rally earlier this year.
“My next goal would be to get a WRC point, to finish in the top ten in a WRC rally,” Duffy explains. “Two weeks after Mayo, I’ll fly to Jordan and do the WRC rally there. After that I have Portugal, Finland, Germany, a Middle round in Lebannon, then I have WRC France, WRC Spain, and Rally GB in November.”
It’s a long way from Crossmolina. But in the meantime, he’s going back to his roots.