The Federation of Uganda Motorsports Clubs faces a race against time as they try to reschedule postponed events with the end of the season on the horizon.
It is going to be a tough grind for Uganda’s racing competitors as the national rally season hits its final bend with calendar events continuing to be affected and postponed.
With barely four months to go until the end of the rallying season, the Federation of Uganda Motorsports Clubs of Uganda (FMU) calendar still has 13 events still lined until the end of the season.
Two of these are national rally championship events, with the South Africa, Rwanda, Zambia and African Rally Championship (ARC) rallies also yet to happen.
Additionally, three motocross events are still lined up and include the second and final round of the Central Africa Motocross championship to be held in Kenya, where Uganda holds the upper hand for regional success.
Recently, Central Motor Club (CMC) postponed the fifth round of the rally championship, while FMU also pushed ahead the FMU sprint.
The headache for FMU is that they have to find space in an already congested period, but FMU Deputy Vice President Reynolds Kibira remains confident they will squeeze space for the two events.
“It is not something that we want,” Kibira told NBS Sport, adding; “Now the last half of the calendar is going to be congested and that adds pressure on the competitors.”
So far, we have managed to fix the rally CMC event to November on the weekend of November 11th – 13th. We also have an FMU sprint that has been pushed as well to November.”
“It is going to be tough and congested, we did not want to be in this situation, but we recognize that matters of force majeure are provided for in motorsport and we hope to sort it going forward,” he added.
As FMU stares down one challenge, they however have something to be positive about as some of their strategic partnerships are starting to bear fruit.
FMU recently struck partnerships with several individuals who have invested heavily in motorsport facilities.
“The federation has managed to secure important partnerships with individuals who own land and interested them in investing in motorsport facilities,” Kibira explained.
“We are working with individuals like Kavuma Kabenge, and Amos Wekesa who have developed facilities and have signed memorandums of understanding that last five years with the federation.”
“We know how much sports facilities have been affected by the pressure from urbanization, and we hope with such partnerships, we can find lasting solutions to that challenge.”
“As the sport grows, we hope to fully utilize these facilities like the one in Arua which we are yet to use. And we know how much significance these facilities can bring both to the sport and the areas where they are located.”
“It is a good venture, and we have shared it with the National Council of Sports (NCS) and the government has been impressed with what we have done, promising to use this as a case study to help other disciplines as well tap into such partnerships,” he continued.
The motorsport season will continue with the sixth round of the motocross championship which will be held at the barren track in Kasanje for the first time from the 7th to the 9th of October with the national rally season expected to rev off again seven days later.
Ponsiano Lwakataka leads the national rally championship, while Alistair Blick was already declared the national motocross champion.
