2025 East African Safari Classic Rally 05 - 13 Dec
DAY O1
The Rallying Gods Can be Cruel
With the sun rising over the Indian Ocean, Day 1 of the East Africa Safari Classic Rally started out much beter than it ultimately ended, both for me and our entire team.
The first transport stage was exciting, as the pre-rally excitement faded into the work of navigating our way to the start of the first competion stage.
As the first competition stage began, things were progressing well, the car was strong, and Joe and I were starting to get a good rythym going. Things started to go downhill for Joe later in the stage as Joe began showing symptoms of a medical issue
By the time we were well into the second competition stage, while the car was still going strong, it was clear that Joes issue was worsening, and getting more so by the kilometer. By the end of that stage, Joe required medical assistance (that was rendered by the Rally’s medical team in the most expedient and professional manner).
This, of course, led to some serious conversations among and between the Chief of the Course, the Chief Medical Officer, myself, Joe, and our Team Manager/Car Chief. At 6:30 pm, the Chief Medical Officer haf decided that, “out of an abundace of caution for all concerned”, Joe would be medically retired from the event.
While it was heartbreaking for myself and Joe, that decision left us with even more decisions to make. As a team, we had come too far,and invested far too much, to simply throw in the towel altogether. So together we decided that Joe and John Roberts would swap roles on the team - with John taking over the Co-Driver position (which he has years of championship level experience in) and Joe would take over in his role as Team Manager/Car Chief (a role that Joe is intimately familiar with and experienced
Of course, all that meant taking a rather large cumulative time penalty, and required long evening of briefing, strategizing, and coordinating. But as a new day dawns over Diani, we are preparing to do exactly what we came here for - to rally and push as hard as we possibly can!
Glen Edmunds / Joe Autera