As a multiple world champion and an Olympic medallist in her chosen sport of BMX, Sarah Walker knows full well how often the highs of sporting achievement can be followed by lows.
Rally Otago served up its own version of hero-to-zero for Walker yesterday.
After taking a measured approach to her rallying debut on Saturday’s stages north of Dunedin, Walker dialled up the pace on yesterday’s opening high speed special stage through Waipori Gorge.
Doing her best to ignore the cliffs on one side and the drops on the other, but assuredly paying attention to the pace notes delivered by co-driver Grant Marra, Walker was seventh-fasted in her class through the sinuous 12.97km test.
Having shown she has serious talent behind the wheel, Walker then headed into the depths of Berwick Forest for a daunting 29km run through narrow and slippery roads, with a bit of rain and the odd patch of mist thrown in to make things even trickier.
Just four kilometres in, Walker’s Subaru Impreza ploughed off the road on a super-slippery bend, tipping briefly on its side, before landing flat again, but stuck, and with its steering badly damaged.
"I was absolutely gutted initially," Walker said later. "But I felt a little better when several other drivers with a lot more experience than I ended up off the road in the same place."
None other than Emma Gilmour backed that assessment, describing the spot in question as "incredibly challenging".
And Walker, in fact, made it to the finish; her car was retrieved, its steering repaired, and she rejoined the rally for the final two special stages.
"I’m not quite sure, but I think I can say that while I didn’t complete the rally, perhaps I finished it," she explained at the end.
If this ends up being Walker’s one-and-only rallying experience then her mile-wide smile at the end confirmed she had a blast ... but she also admitted she would love to come back and have another shot next year.
- David Thomson
