24 June 2011
Nairobi — Stella Macharia and Hellen Shiri’s dream to complete the 2011 KCB Safari Rally went up in smoke. Literally.
Just nine kilometres into the transport section ahead of the first competitive section of the rally in Kajiado last Saturday, their Subaru Impreza stalled.
“We didn’t know what happened and, since we were not allowed physical outside help, we couldn’t figure out what to do,” explained Macharia, a mother of four daughters.
After putting through numerous telephone calls to their team of engineers led by the experienced navigator Dave Macharia, the pair decided to give the car a push and it was then that they noticed some smoke billowing out of the bonnet.
Painful fact
The turbo, they realised, had blown, their Safari dream up in smoke.
“After a long period of preparations, it was a painful fact to admit,” adds Shiri, a mother of one.
Macharia and Shiri are products of the Abdul Sidi Rally School, which is run by veteran navigator and journalist Abdul Sidi.A downcast Abdul was at the service park when the ladies rolled in.
“We could see the disappointment in his face,” recalls Macharia. “Abdul has been a great role model and he was obviously disappointed we did not make it to the section.”
But the pair are not giving up just yet and they have vowed to tackle the remaining rounds of the Kenya National Rally Championships now that they have new sponsors on board.
Oil company Gulf Energy gave the team lubricants and fuel for the Safari and has pledged to support their run in the remaining KNRC rounds and the Pearl of Africa Rally in Uganda.
The two ladies say they faced numerous challenges in their build-up to the Safari – from juggling between parenthood to fighting off the cliche that women cannot tackle an event as gruelling as the Safari Rally.
“There are some of the drivers who even joked that we could not step on the gas!” says Macharia, who made her rallying debut last year.
Macharia initially navigated another woman driver, Jedidah Weru.
“But after she got busy with work commitments, and with a shortage of women rally drivers, I took to the wheel and Hellen joined me as the navigator,” said Macharia, who initially rallied in the Bila Make-up women’s team beside Weru.
“We wanted to keep the dream of women drivers alive.”
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Ladies Sitting Pretty on the Fast Lane