Fan savours his prized autograph
Fans follow the action at Kasarani Super special stage during the WRC Safari Rally on March 28, 2024.
What you need to know:
- The crews, which were returning to Naivasha after the flag-off ceremony, and the Super Special Stage in Nairobi, made a stop-over at the Safari Village in Naivasha
- For a moment, Wasike stood transfixed, rooted at the same spot, admiring the signed autograph
- Wasike is a sports lover and equated the moment to an encounter with his football heroes that include Lionel Messi
Rally fan Rooney Wasike from Nairobi was over the moon after having his memoirs autographed by leading World Rally Championship drivers at Safari Village in Naivasha.
The crews, which were returning to Naivasha after the flag-off ceremony, and the Super Special Stage in Nairobi, made a stop-over at the Safari Village in Naivasha to get up and close with fans and spectators. They signed autographs before making their way to the Service Park in Naivasha.
For a moment, Wasike stood transfixed, rooted at the same spot, admiring the signed autograph.
“I am going to archive them. I will frame the annals and hang them on my walls. I travelled all the way from Nairobi just for this hour,” he told Nation Sport.
Wasike is a sports lover and equated the moment to an encounter with his football heroes that include Lionel Messi.
“They are celebrities in their space (motorsport)."
Before making the journey back to Nairobi, Wasike promised to call his friends and to confirm to them that his dreams had been validated.
“I told them that I would get autographs ....now I have good news to deliver to my bossom buddies, I have done it," he said, fishing out his mobile phone to make the phone call.
Njeri Kiarie, another fan, kept pacing up and down at the Safari Village where the rally drivers had stopped briefly.
The trader who runs a shop at the mall was awe-struck after coming face to face with drivers she had previously only seen on TV.
“I am so excited to be accorded such a chance. It will be chronicled in my memory. It is a chance of a lifetime,” she said
Joseph Ndung’u who runs a joint called ‘Gym Source’’ at the mall had traveled from his Kinungi base to catch up with the rally drivers. He termed the moment “unforgettable.”
"I have been a rally fan since my childhood, and the revised motorsport calendar has reawakened the nostalgia. The Easter Safari Rally of yore is back," he said.
The trio was among hundreds of rally fans who turned up to meet the crews the mall. Fans, both young and old, all lined up at the mall and waited for hours for their big moment with the crews.
Inside the mall, General Service Unit officers kept watch, ensuring topnotch security for the drivers and their fans.
The throaty vehicles will entertain fans in the next three days with Naivasha back in the international limelight.
