Robin Hood Forest Stages Rally to take a sabbatical in 2010 for a return in 2011

Robin Hood Forest Stages Rally to take a sabbatical in 2010, for a return in 2011

Posted: December 8, 2009 4:07 PM

The organising team of the RHFSR has taken the decision to give the rally a sabbatical in 2010, to prepare for a significant restructuring and development of the event. The rally will be re-launched in 2011 in its new guise. The reasons for this decision are as follows:

• Rallies which use exclusively Forestry Commission stages need a major championship to attract sufficient entries to be financially viable. FC fees are fixed according to mileage used, and Regional Association Championships and smaller scale series just don’t bring in sufficient competitors to cover these costs. Cancellation of the 2009 event was a consequence of this situation, being adversely affected by the loss of inclusion in the British Historic Championship.

• Feedback from an on-line survey after the 2009 cancellation has given RHFSR organisers a strong agenda for change, which would be impossible to implement in time for March 2010. To ensure the rally has a more secure future, we wish to put resources and energies into re-development, rather than taking the risk of offering “the same again”.

• The format of the rally, stages used, and off-stage venues, will be modified in an effort to revitalise the event, and hopefully secure significant support from Championships and competitors.

• By monitoring the pattern of rallies since March 2009, it appears that the “major franchises” of BTRDA and BRC/BHRC are still doing well. Elsewhere, entries have fallen as economic problems continue. We hope that by 2011, all events will experience an upturn.

• The RHFSR team has decided to announce this decision now, to enable championships and competitors to plan their 2010 season accordingly. Lindholme MSC is grateful for all the supportive comments made about the RHFSR since March. We wish to maintain that goodwill by indicating our intentions clearly, and we hope that the new rally will prove to be popular.

Robin Hood Forest Stages