… Kielder Call to the Reivers …
This year’s Jim Clark Rally will return to its roots. For the past 17 years, the rally has been contested over closed public roads within the county of Berwickshire, but in a change to the format, this year’s event on Sunday 31st May will run on private Forestry Commission gravel roads.
Previously a 3 day motor sporting extravaganza, this year’s rally will revert to a one day competition ahead of a more ambitious programme for 2016.
Clerk of the Course, Colin Smith confirmed the new route: “The ‘Reivers’ part of the annual Jim Clark Rally is traditionally a separate National event run on the Sunday after the International part of the rally on Friday/Saturday, so we are sticking with the Sunday run, ahead of a return to the usual format next year.”
He added: “We are planning to have five Special Stages in Kielder Forest. The rally will start from Kelso in the morning before heading south over the Border into Northumberland, returning there later in the afternoon for the rally finish, back in Kelso.”
This will ensure the continuity of a sporting event which can trace its roots back to 1970. As International Clerk of the Course, Russel Blood, said: “The organising team is split into two groups, one manages the two-day Jim Clark Rally event, while the other is responsible for the one-day Jim Clark Reivers Rally. Naturally both teams work closely together.”
He confirmed: “We are currently planning a return to the traditional three-day event next year, and work is well underway, but there will be changes to the timetable and format.”
The title of the Jim Clark ‘Reivers’ Rally is therefore quite fitting in this sporting context. It refers back to the unsettled times of the late middle ages when the Border Reivers roamed back and forth across the Scottish/English border. Bands of raiders swept across these troubled lands as far as Biggar in the north and Richmond in the south in the search for food and riches.
Fast forward 400 years and the ‘reivers’ had swapped their horses for horsepower and their ‘loot’ for sporting trophies. And perhaps it was fitting that an English driver and a Scottish driver fought for outright honours on the first Jim Clark Reivers Rally way back in 1970. On that 4th of July date, it was Russell Close, from Lanchester near Consett, who scored victory from Scotland’s James Rae from Perth. However, the Scots were not too downhearted, as Cupar’s Donald Heggie was third and Girvan’s Drew Gallacher 4th.
Today that rivalry continues, and the rally continues to attract competitors from both sides of the border.
This year’s event will be the fourth round (of 8) of the 2015 ARR Craib Scottish Rally Championship. The entry list will open in early April. Regulations and Entry Forms will be published shortly.
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