Rally report written by Swedish WIMA members Anita Paulsson and Åsa Öhqvist.
The European rally was held in Sundet, Vittaryd, in the region of Småland, in the south of Sweden. Around 200 women from 11 countries attended: Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom.
This was a camping-only rally under the slogan ‘back to basics’ and those who couldn’t camp stayed in B&Bs nearby. There were camping kits that overseas members could buy so they too could enjoy the camping experience.
The weather wasn’t fantastic, but despite the cold and sometimes rainy weather, members were busy making plans for riding: Kalmar and the bridge over to Öland and Allvaret; Mollö where you can see over to Denmark; Lund with its University; Vimmerby and Astrid Lindgren’s World; and the Elk Park outside Ljungby, to name just a few.
Despite most people being away during the days, there were always things going on at the campsite. People cooking, doing laundry, just lazing around or going for a swim at the beach nearby. In addition to this, we had the opportunity to hear Pat and Sheonagh’s inspirational presentation about riding in India.
As always at WIMA rallies, there are silly games, and this year was no exception. The teams showed their skills during three different tasks, finding numbers wearing a cone was the first. This was followed by the Heidy-game, i.e. to dress up with lipstick, apron and headscarf and consume a fizzy drink as quickly as possible. The last game was to catch water balloons in water and carry them with your mouth.
Among the meals served were the classic herring open sandwich and ‘pyttipanna’ (a dish traditionally made of leftovers cut in pieces). As desserts, traditional apple cake and sticky chocolate cake were served.
Every night we had either a live band or a disco and the WIMA bar was open almost all the time. The bar staff had as much fun as the ones buying the drinks.
The traditional parade went to the local bike meet in Tydinge. In this region, local bikers meet at this café on Thursdays for something to eat and a chat. The bikes are always counted at the entry because the owner donates 1 sek per bike to the Chernobyl Fund. On a normal Thursday there are around 700 bikes; the previous record was of 890 bikes – our arrival contributed to smashing that and setting 1120 as the new record, and a donation of 120 euros. WIMA and our support riders contributed with more than 200 bikes. The local newspaper had advertised our coming, which probably contributed to a few more bikes arriving than usual.
Furthermore, we held auctions and lotteries to collect money for our own charities. We raised a total of 6500 sek (about 695 euros) for WIMA International’s elected charity, Motorcycle Outreach and a further 10000 sek (about 1070 euros) was raised for WIMA Sweden’s chosen charity, the Cancer Fund.
This rally was organised with the support of the local bike club Hermans Hedningar.
2015 WIMA Sweden International Rally – Promotion Video
