In 1989 the rally was located at a holiday park on the Island of Maurik, in the heart of the Betuwe region. We don’t have any information on how many participated and where they were from. But we do have a copy of the programme, a rally report from Lesley Dibley that was published in WIMA GB News and some memories by Widge Thorpe.
After registration on the Sunday afternoon, Monday was a free day, and there was a barbeque in the evening. Lesley wrote: the barbecue that evening was excellent – plenty of meat, delicious peanut sauce, a lovely salad and plenty of beer. Most people got up and boogied at the disco.
On Tuesday’s Treasure Hunt and photo quiz Lesley reported: the route was given in 100 instructions, and at certain ones specified by a ‘ * ‘ we had to be extra vigilant and observant to our surroundings until the next instruction. We got home at 7 p.m. Just a short trip, a mere 240 km! Armed with Cally’s prolific notes and drawings, we headed for the barn, to find a handful of very obscure photos, which we were supposed to identify and place in the correct order of where we had seen them during the route.
The programme for the Wednesday offered a chance to display your prowess on two wheels, in a three-part Gymkhana. Widge Thorpe recalled: the sports day obstacle course had to be done in clogs.
Lesley said: the Gymkhana was planned for today and looked diabolical. In three parts, involving a huge pair of clogs, a very small pedal bike, and an extremely temperamental trials bike, it looked interesting enough to throw up a fair challenge. The trials bike eventually gave up the ghost, so we all retired to sun ourselves.
A visit had been arranged to the Open-Air Museum at Arnhem today (Thursday). It’s a beautiful site, full of old dwellings, windmills and farmhouses from Dutch history, collected from all over Holland and rebuilt into their own surroundings.
Friday was another free day, followed by the farewell dinner. We don’t know who won the prizes, only who didn’t, thanks to Lesley’s report: dinner was very nice, though the restaurant was very hot. Typically, us Brits didn’t win anything . . . we like to keep with tradition you know. Each of us got a tile with the Netherlands WIMA logo on.
