ABU DHABI ‘SPIRIT OF THE RALLY’ AWARDED TO FLYING KIWI DOCTORS
ABU
DHABI ‘SPIRIT OF THE RALLY'
AWARDED TO FLYING KIWI DOCTORS
St
John Ambulance's Dr Tony Smith receives
UAE capital's WRC accolade
Abu Dhabi, UAE. 1st September,
2008: The ‘Abu
Dhabi Spirit of the Rally' award for Repco Rally New Zealand has been presented
to Dr Tony Smith, chief medical officer, St John Ambulance following his team's
swift response to an emergency incident in the event's peripheral area.
When Repco Rally New Zealand organisers received a
call from a local emergency ambulance line informing them that an eight-year-old
boy had fallen off a farm-house roof near the rally route, they informed Dr
Smith - one of New Zealand's
top trauma surgeons - who immediately dispatched the helicopter recovery team,
with himself at the helm.
With normal emergency response times estimated at
40-80 minutes in the rally's deep, rural corner of the lush New Zealand
countryside, Dr Smith's teams' helicopter landed at the accident site only
eight minutes after the boy's family originally called for an ambulance. The unnamed child is expected to make a full
recovery.
"Once again, St John Ambulance - and in particular its
motorsport division - have proved just how invaluable they are to the event," said
Chris Carr, chairman, Repco Rally New Zealand, which is the eleventh round of
the 15-event 2008 FIA World Rally Championship series.
"Everyone connected with the rally is conscious of the
disruption we cause to the local people and farmers along the rally route. They are always extremely supportive of the event
despite it running solely on public roads - their public roads.
"So when the call came in, the decision was immediate:
let's use the resources we have available and give something back to the
community. We're thrilled that Abu Dhabi has decided to recognise
us in this way," added Carr.
The ‘Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally' award recognising
parties demonstrating the same values that the capital of the United Arab
Emirates, Abu Dhabi, stands for; respect, innovation, integrity and teamwork.
It is also designed to acknowledge a positive contribution to the WRC by any of the myriad of parties involved in the
sport.
"The efforts of Dr Smith and St John Ambulance are the
perfect example of why we created this award.
In one selfless moment, a WRC
round's unbelievable, on-hand logistical resources have been utilised to give
something back to the local community.
It is just another example of how the WRC
is not just the world's most dramatic form of motorsport but also, in my
opinion, it's most human and community-orientated," said Ahmed Hussein, Deputy
Director General, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, the United Arabic Emirates body
behind the capital's WRC
partnership.
