February 2003
NEWSLETTER NO: 5

Hopefully by this stage everyone has recovered from the Dinner dance! As always the night was very well attended and I am sure you will all agree that it was a very enjoyable night.

Now it is back to business with the rallying season getting into full swing at the GMW rally hosted by Mid Antrim on Sat 8th Feb. MADMC ran a stage of this event and it was great to see a good turnout of marshals on the day to lend a hand. A big thank you to the stage commanders and all who helped on the day. This was the first round of our own club championship, and I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that we have a new club championship co ordinator-William John Convery.

Once again this year the club have employed Marshalling to Compete to try and improve manpower levels and encourage competitors to put something back into their sport. The rules are slightly different from last years. Again you can qualify for your award at year-end if you have obtained two signatures for marshalling on the qualifying events. However there is also an opportunity to qualify for your award by volunteering as COC, deputy COC, safety officer or stage commander. If you undertake one of these roles throughout the year you will only require the one signature for that event. Please make sure that you get your Marshalling to Compete card from Willie John when you register for the championship and make sure it is returned to him by 24th Nov 2003 with the necessary signatures if you wish to claim any awards you are eligible for at year-end.

Another change to the club awards this year, which was approved at the AGM, is the need for anyone wishing to be considered for any of the club perpetual awards, to marshal on at least one event during the year. Again this has been introduced to encourage competitors at all levels to assist in the running of the sport.

There will be many opportunities throughout the year for anyone wishing to marshal for either Marshalling to Compete awards or to volunteer. The dates so far, where MADMC have been requested to provide manpower, or run a stage are as follows;

All MADMC events
Omagh 12th Apr
MAMC 31st May Ballypatrick
MAMC 25th June Festival stages
Lough Neagh Car & Tarmac Rally Marshals 6th July*
Omagh 26&27th September Bushwacker
Omagh 25Th Oct Hill Climb
MAMC 1st Nov Toshiba

*Not eligible for Marshalling to Compete only club awards.
 

If anyone knows now that they can marshal on any of the above events please either let myself or Alan Bolton know.

I would just like to remind all competitors registered for both the ME Crowe NI Rally Championship, and the Tracker Clubman Championship that there is a change to the rules regarding point scoring, again to encourage you to help with the manning of stages. If you marshal on an event and collected a signed card you will receive 5 extra points to be ADDED to both the class and overall points score. However if you do not marshal on at least one event throughout the year and collect the signed card you will have 10 points DEDUCTED. Again you can obtain this signature by marshalling on a stage run by Magherafelt . This card will be issued when you sign on at either ANICC Championship events.

Club membership is now due for 2003 and again a change was made to the membership fees at the AGM. Again the cost of membership is still £10 per member or competitor. However there is now a family membership available at £15. This covers the first members fee, wether they are a competitor or non-competitor, plus all family members providing they do not compete throughout the year.

The club have organised an opportunity for anyone interested to attend an Emergency First Aid course. There has been a great interest in this course but there are still a few places available if anyone is interested in attending. There are two dates available, either Mon 25th or Mon 31st Mar from 7.30pm-10.30pm IN emergency Medical Care premises, Rainey st Magherafelt. Cost £22 per person. Anyone interested please contact Alan Bolton 02879643961 to make it know what night suits them.

Finally a plug for some merchandise available from the club. There has been a new delivery of club clothing, with polo shirts and fleeces being added to the inventory. Anyone interested please contact Maurice Wilkinson 028 79418946. There is also a calendar available at a cost of £3, which is available from Maurice or myself. All money raised from the sale of the calendar goes to Motorsport Marshalling Partnership to fund incentives to encourage new joins to marshal on stages throughout the year and attend the necessary training.

Ursula Mullan
Chairperson
028 7032 1473