Until recently, I was never one to follow sports, especially motorsports. This was all to change when I find out that last year Camp Kenya hosted the first national motocross championship in our backyard and that we were going to do it again. I had never watched a motocross race on television, let alone in real life and now we were about to organise one!

As with all events, be it concerts, festivals or sports days, the success all depends on the planning and preparation. We are very fortunate to have a dedicated team of staff that are well versed in handling hundreds of students at a time so this event was a breeze for them and thankfully everyone else was a lot more relaxed than I was.

The two-day event spoke for itself where we had 22 bikes flying over hills including and a bunch of little ones on their 50cc bikes whizzing around the bend with their parents cheering them on. The race day on October 19th attracted hundreds of local spectators from surrounding villages in Muhaka which is just 12kms south of Ukunda. Personally, this was one of the greatest rewards for me in being part of such an event: that is the fact that a full day of entertainment is free for people from all walks of life, especially since the majority of the people we share the environment with don’t have the luxuries we do. It was all smiles, laughs and cheering from every side of the sand quarry which is rented from 13 different landowners for the two day occasion which again makes the event very special: so many people from the local community stand to benefit not just from the entertainment but financially to as scores of young men are hired for over a week to help prepare the track, the land is rented and so many more bring their wears and tears, samosas and soft drinks to sell on the occasion.

For those with cash to spare, a section is available which you pay an entrance fee of 500/- which gives you access to the well-stocked bar and restaurant run by Ngiri’s restaurant and a perfect view of the entire track. And of course a bouncy castle and DJ kept all ages dancing through the day. Thanks to all the sponsors and ticket sales, we were able to raise approximately Ksh 90,000/- which will all go towards the Camp Kenya Trust projects in Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary.

The humble young National Motocross Champion, Shivam Vinayak stole the day and the hearts of the spectators with his impressive jumps and speed but all racers put up a really good race. Talking to several of the riders individually made me realise we have something really special to offer motor sports in Diani. Not only do they love the challenging sand track but its also another excuse to spend some time on our golden beaches so it’s a win win for all!

A special thanks to all our supporters from across Diani, everybody that contributed to the event and the Camp Kenya volunteers who spent the day in the sun as marshals!

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 7:18 am and is filed under Dipesh, Volunteers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.