TTRC Family Day and Shakedown
25th January 2009
Photography by Dewayne Thomas and Candace Bhagirath
Article provided by TTRC

Except for the brief shower that nevertheless blessed the day, sunny weather  and flirting winds saw us through yet another successful occurence of this event. The ambulance was near at hand and fortunately, no more BBQ’d leg this year or as the officer so nicely out it “.. I hope you all have your fire extinguishers eh .. las’ year you all didn’t start good yet .. and we had to race a man to the hospital…”. Darrel, Darrel, Darrel …your rep is well known and precedes you.

White tents were erected for our drivers-turned-cooks, interspersed by the flagship colours of Battery and Malta Carib tents donated by the Carib Brewery – Kid’s Corner was commandeered by Ainsley, who fed the kids hot dogs, BBQ Hut was occupied by Scott as well as Vishal et al, who gave excellent customer service, according to wandering MC Robert Cadiz.  Curry Lane had the usual competitors of Barry x 2, the Scorpion crew and Bench who disappointed Jackie by telling her he couldn’t make it again and appearing some minutes later to say “.. I was only yanking yuh chain Jackie, we here minus car ..”. On the Far Side was the DDC – Double Dog Crew, complete with Dr. Vernon proudly wearing his CLICO 5K medal. They did a mean lamb shake-up.

Family Day was the brainchild of the 2008 Governing Committee who decided to turn a Scrutineering and Shakedown for the rally cars into an occasion of festivity and comraderie by asking members to bring their families, friends and service crews along, planning a series of good clean family acivities. Sponsors, officials, well-wishers and supporters are also invited.

Despite the initial moans and groans and cries of “meh car not ready” from drivers, a surprisingly large number of rally machines were either driven, wrecked, pulled or pushed to the Scutineering tent where Chief Scrutineer – Tanko Baboolal – went through his paces, understudied by Zahir Mohammed.

Bobby Ramdass’ EVO 3 was the first to hit the tarmac followed by Glen Pontifex’ s Lancer.  Soon, there were Ainsley, Barry and Roger, Vishal, Sarah-Jane, Tony the ‘wrecker-man’, Scott and Rezan and the car park was lit up by the bright and varied colours of the rally machines.

Some passed muster and others were sent away with a “Fix-it” warning.  Only 3 dared to do the Shakedown – Sarah-Jane, Ainsley and Bobby – at Preysal across the highway from the Stadium. Ainsley limped away with a broken left axle and the Club President had to wreck “Mr. Action’s” EVO 9 back to the Stadium. Both Saraj and Bobby had good runs though. Phototogs such as Dewayne, Narend and Cindy were happily clicking away.

In the meantime, pots were already bubbling away on the fires. “One Oot” started the crowd coughing early with his now familiar “chunkay” for his curried pork.   Non-comers missed a culinary feast, as on the menu were:            

Curried Goat , courtesy Bench

Curried Corn, courtesy Keeva’s girlfriend

Curried Pork, by One Oot

Curried Layers, by Barry 2

Curried Duck, by Glen and Grudge, whose cell phone ended up downside in his drink.

BBQ chicken by Vishal’s crew

BBQ also by Scott

Fish Broth by Darrel

Dessert by the lovely wife and sister-in-law of Barry 2

Products were donated by Dasani Water, Flavorite, Suvalan Juice, Solo Beverages.

Through it all, Mr. “MC Grasshopper” Cadiz did a running and lively commentary, often times making hilarious remarks that may have earned him a swipe or two at the back of the head, maintaining the ambivalence of the occasion and keeping the spirits high. Franklyn made a surprise presentation to his son – a collage of Keeva’s roll, made up of several explicit shots taken by TriniTuner photographer Gerrard Wilson aka Wagon R.

John Powell dropped by and was sat down for an interview by Aldwyn Borneo, free lancer reporter for CNC3, assisted by the able-bodied Sharisse, who interviewed firstly the President. He was followed by Ainsley, Robert who sat on the other side of the mike, Vishal, Rezan, Jackie and Bobby Kumar.

Let’s not forget the kids. They jumped in and out, up and down the Bouncy Castle, Stacy from Happy Faces painted all young ‘uns and those young at heart and there was a Devil around as well. Jackie hid treasures for the children who ran screeching to the low bushes located on the Stadium grounds to gather up their finds.

The participation was greater at the Games this year than last:

The first one was hard - each side adamant, holding on and calling on strength with war cries of “Pull” and “Protest” rending the air.  Supporters gathered on their favourite side, egging the competitors along. Grimacing, heels dug into the ground, straining muscles, no-one prepared to give an inch.

When the ½ way ribbon along the rope started to inch towards the Stages fellas, you could feel the frenzy and different configurations of grimaces were displayed … but the win went to Stages. All turned away, wiping away the beads of sweat gathered at the brows, hands that felt longer, held limply at the sides, muscles not used in ages, trembled and screamed internally …  only to be stopped by “.. Wait! Wait! 2 outta 3 ! Switch sides!! ..”

The second pull however, was very short-lived as Navigation didn’t even get a chance to settle in their groove when they were literally yanked across the line, slipping and sliding and protesting.

All competitors returned to their stations, tired and panting, to discuss lodging of protests.

Children continued playing .. with a small group of girls and one boy playing skip.  Jackie tried her hand .. er .. feet .. at this, forgetting how to “jump in” .. even One Oot skipped .. or hopped .. arguing that the children were not turning the rope for him properly.

As the adage goes, all’s well that ends well. 

The Executives of TTRC would like to express a very warm “Thank you” to all who donated products and services, time and commitment, towards our family function, to Club members who came forward to prove that driving and navigating are not their only skills, to the Event organising committee, to the officials of the Ato Boldin Stadium, to the Ambulance, to all media personnel, and to all present, without whom this day would not have a success.