Unity delivers rally gains to community

It's been six years since the last WRC Rally  New Zealand hit the roads of Kaipara and Whangarei District but the Maungaturoto Collective is still the driving force of rallying here.
When the collective started is a matter for some debate by its main organisers, Jim Rowlands and Karen Smales, but they reckon it came together about 12 years ago and since then  it has become pretty efficient at  its job.
"What happened was that Rally New Zealand approached a number of the area's fundraising organisations and formed them into one co-op so all the money for the area goes into one pot and then it's all divided up evenly, so everybody helps each other out," Smales said.
Neither of the two organisers is a  big rally fan but both are heavily involved in community projects. The co-op earns 50 per cent of the gate takings from the day for its community organisations, as well as profit from running hospitality tents and concessions at viewing points such as the iconic Hella Bridge at the end of the Brooks Special Stage.
The overall logistics of the rally are stunning but for yesterday's eight stages, the collective provided more than 300 volunteers to patrol the roads to make them safe for public and competitors.

 For most of the volunteers, it is a day-long job but for the eight co-ordinators - one from each member organisation - it is the culmination of many hours of work already put in.
"The co-ordinator's work is vital and they probably do the equivalent of a week's work before the rally actually starts ... since the first planning meeting which was in November," Smales said.
Some of the volunteers were required on Wednesday for the drivers' reconnaissance day and the rest were out on the road "very early" on the morning of the rally, taping gates and roads off for the stages.

 "They are huge days ... but the advantage is that we've been doing it for years over the same roads and people know what's expected of them," Smales says.
 People who use the roads in the area - posties, milk truck drivers, school bus drivers for example - have often already rejigged their delivery routes by the time they are contacted by members of the co-operative.
 "You get one or two irate people every year but the residents are generally really good because they realise the money is coming back into the community," Rowlands said.
He said there have been no major mishaps since the co-operative has been organising the event, largely because they - and Rally New Zealand - take the job so seriously.

 Members of the Kaipara Hunt Club, Maungaturoto Lions Club, Paparoa Lions Club, Mid Western Lions Club, Kamo Lions Club, Maungaturoto St Johns/Marohemo Hall Project, Maungaturoto Rotary Club and the Maungaturoto Country Club will be out marshalling on the roads for a second time this year.
The co-operative is  already planning  its second event of the year - the Asia-Pacific Rally in early July - and with two days of competition and just as many volunteers needed,  it will have  its hands full once again