The Hungarian WIMA rally is over and, as always, the feeling is “wow, what a week!” When I had recovered from my exhausting arrival and sorted out myself it was time to start mingling and enjoying. The weather was hot the first couple of days and I was thankful for the pool. As my bike wasn’t rideable, due to the problem with the clutch and the need to get the sprockets mounted, I just chilled at the camp site. There were silly games to take part in, wine-tasting and random socialising, not a bad way to spend a couple of days out of the saddle.
Luckily my bike got fixed in time for the rally ride. I do enjoy this game and wouldn’t have wanted to miss it. The ride ended in a city whose name I have forgotten 🙁 and after a long, leisurely lunch we all met up at the police station for a ceremony in memory of fallen riders.
The following day was the parade, my all-time favourite (even more so than the rally). I had an early morning rise because the TV was coming and I had promised to help our International President prepare for the interview. As a last minute decision, she asked me to stay to answer some questions as well, so here I am on Hungarian TV without having combed my hair or brushed my teeth, but hopefully that isn’t all that noticeable. Luckily I was wearing the right top for talking about WIMA’s fundraising so that was suitable at least. From 21.40 is the report about WIMA.
I was then in a hurry to get ready for the parade, which took us into Budapest with the help of an impressive group of police motorcyclists who, with flashing blue lights, lead us, a group of 200 riders, uninterrupted into the Peace Square in Budapest. As our parade was in aid of the Pink Ribbon we ended with a ceremonial meet with doctors from the cancer treatment and a hand over of a cheque for 250,000 Florints on behalf of all of us. In the rush, I forgot my camera but luckily others snapped great pics.
As I’m currently the vice-president of WIMA, the rallies are no longer just fun and games, it is also a bit of work. This year, we focused on spreading the knowledge of Motorcycle Outreach and inspiring other WIMA members to do different types of fundraising. Therefore, we had an information meeting and Anneli and I told a bit about our fundraising marathon. We also had a lottery and an auction which, altogether, raised about 700 euros. Impressive and a good reason to be proud! WIMA is a generous bunch of women! For next year, Anneli and I are considering our different options for another marathon and hopefully we inspired some people to take on their own project – of their liking.
All good things come to an end and so do WIMA rallies. It was rain gear on for departure day and I soon realised that my new waterproof boots were not at all waterproof, at least not the left boot which was full of water within half an hour. On the positive side – my new rain trousers kept my bum dry all across Slovakia, and that is something to be happy for!
Nice one Åsa
Great rally report, well done! …inspiration for me to write something for the WIMA GB newsletter!