LAST weekend’s 40th Anniversary Brick & Steel Border Counties Rally may have been won by motoring maestros David Bogie and Hawick co-driver Kevin Rae (see page 24 for full report), but it was a 10-year-old Ancrum Primary School pupil who grabbed the headlines away from the main event.
Mackenzie Roebuck, Mack to his mates, won the ‘Colour a Rally Car’ competition run by the event sponsors. And on Friday Strathblane driver John McClory of Brick & Steel, along with co-driver David Hood and a host of Border Counties Rally aficionados, turned up at the local primary school with the car which sported the winning design.
Mack told TheSouthern: “My heart was pounding when I found out I had won, it was quite a surprise. The design just came out of my imagination. I just thought it would look really nice with all the flames on the side and I added the bricks because of the name of the rally.”
McClory’s mechanical team at Mayfield Garage Services, Kilmarnock, had worked tirelessly last Thursday evening to reproduce Mack’s design onto the Subaru Impreza N10 in order to appear at the school on Friday in all its glory. And it certainly proved a winner with the two dozen or so kids who turned out to applaud the winner.
For the driver, the car appeared brighter and he was delighted with the overall effect.
He told us: “The car is usually white with some red splashes on it for the company, so this is a complete change. Once I had got used to it I absolutely loved it.
“We thought it would be a good idea to get the local children involved and it turned out to be a great idea. The response has been amazing. The worry is that we go and crash it now.”
McClory’s worries were unfounded and he and Hood managed eighth place overall in their colourful car. But his day was not finished. The veteran driver also got roped into the 40th Anniversary Super Stage (Go-Kart) event which was held at Jedburgh Town Hall on Saturday, where he pushed Mack along the 50m course. Monies raised by this event were donated to the Borders Children’s Charity (BCC) and the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS).
“The whole weekend was fantastic,” added McClory, who has been a regular competitor in the Border Counties since it began in 1972. “40 years is a tremendous milestone and credit must go to the organisers for keeping it running so smoothly over the years.”
Children from all three Jedburgh Grammar feeder schools entered the competition and all received goodie bags from McClory.
Border Counties secretary Steve Nesworthy added his thanks to everyone who took part in the competition on behalf of the organisers.
“We were overwhelmed by the level of response and quality of entries,” he told us.
z Elsewhere, plans to bring an Isle of Man-style TT motorcycle race to the Borders are speeding up.
The idea of holding a two-day road race event is being mooted by Jedburgh resident Andrew Hadwin and has received the backing of some major backers from within the Borders and beyond. Read the full story in next week’s Southern.