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On Saturday 12th November LDMC member and DT teacher Fiona Balchin and Garwyn Davies got to take a group of pupils who are part of the rally club at Penglais School Cadet Marshall on the Rally GB. This was organised for us through Ryland James our MSA Go Motorsport representative. The pupils met at  5-30am in the morning to sign on and reach our marshal point in Meherin. The pupils had to be kitted out in warm and waterproof clothing as the weather is very unpredictable up in the mountains. We signed on with Dyfan Davies at the start and followed a convoy of other marshals to our spot on Junction 2. The pupils were shown what they were doing for the day by the chief marshal at the spot. They were also given a safety talk orange tabards and told where they would be positioned for the first part of the morning. The radio operator at the spot showed the pupils what he would be doing that day and some of the equipment he was using. The start of the day involved shadowing a group of marshals, our job was to warn spectators of cars approaching and making sure they were not on the track.  The cars started coming through at 10:30am and the pupils got to watch the likes of Sebastien Loeb, Mikko Hirvonen, Jari-Matti Latvala, Petter Solberg and one of their favourites Ken Block. Then they got to see a Rally Day regular Barry Jones in his Subaru, and the Subaru that came into school on the Go Motorsport day driven by Dylan Davies. Unfortunately they missed out on seeing Marc Mayes come through as they had car problems before they reached us, but they got regular update from the radio operator.

After lunch they then got to marshal further up the valley shadowing the same group of marshals. The team helicopters (Loeb and mini team), were landing on the hill next to us and were keen to find out what the group were doing and were impressed to learn they were learning the ropes of marshalling. They were so impressed they let the boys have a photo in front of the helicopter before they flew back to the service area in Builth Wells. The day ended around 5:00pm and the pupils had to wait for a closing car before it was safe to clear all the tape from the course. They were involved in helping to remove tape and boards from the rally track and clean up anything left behind from the area we were marshalling. We would like to say a huge thank you to Ryland James for organising this for the pupils. The pupils had a fantastic day and really gained a lot from the opportunity.

 

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