Imagine your 4WD is stuck on a slope, over the ridge of a dune or in loose sand in the desert and all your efforts to wriggle out of this situation are futile. Unimaginable, right?
But what a difference it makes when you know marshals are around to help you out. Equipped with shovels, tow ropes, winches, GPS and walkie-talkies, the off-roading experts play a crucial role in ensuring the Fun Drive is just what it is supposed to be.
This year, about 70 marshals were present at every bend and curve, slope or drop along the route to assist and guide the participants and make their drive a memorable experience.
Gulf News spoke to some of the marshals and the IATC recovery team to find out how they assisted people on the 210-kilometre drive from Emirates Motorplex in Umm Al Quwain (UAQ), traversing through Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah, to Al Arqan, also in UAQ, last Friday.
UAE national Younis Al Ahmedi, who has been marshalling for four years for the event, said he helped about 70 cars. Most of them were stuck in sand or strayed away from the track. His assistant Lamiae, a 24-year-old Moroccan, added that many drivers lost their way since they did not follow the track or the cars in front. Lamiae, for whom this was the first experience as a marshal, said helping people was absolute fun for her.
Interaction
Albert Mahesh, who is “indebted” to veteran marshal and Fun Drive deputy route director Saliya Jayaweera for initiating him as a Gulf News Fun Drive marshal, said this annual event offered him an opportunity to interact with people.
It’s the third year as a marshal for the jovial off-roader from Kerala with 10 years of experience in dune bashing. “The recent rain made the terrain hard and this caused hardships for beginners,” he said, adding “people could not get the correct feel of the track”.
“Many of them get stuck mainly because they fail to deflate their wheels. That’s the basic thing. If you don’t deflate, you keep digging into sand,” Mahesh said.
He expects the more experienced participants to be more responsible and help out newbies and advises beginners to join an off-roaders’ club to learn how to tackle the desert before registering for a Fun Drive.
Ali Asghar Rokadia, who had a field day helping scores of people, said that the third and fifth sections of the Fun Drive typically proved daunting for many novices. Most of them didn’t know where they were headed and veered off course, he said and blamed daredevil off-roaders who explore new tracks for their predicament. “The beginners follow different tracks created by these people and find it difficult to stay on track,” Rokadia of emiratesoffroader.com said.
Recovery of vehicles
Rokadia and his fellow marshal Abdullah Al Mahdi reported two breakdowns with axle and drive shaft problems to the control office for recovery. He helped many others who were either stuck at different angles on dunes and brought back several others lost in the desert on to the track.
While the marshals are ubiquitous on such fun drives, there are some unsung heroes too. The IATC team, for instance. They recover abandoned vehicles. The problems they attend to are more technical such as burnt clutches, broken axles, differentials or suspensions.
Minor issues include a flat tyre or a ripped off tyre and 4WDs getting stuck in places where a fellow driver’s tow rope or a marshal’s winch are of little help. The recovery team likes to remain behind the scenes and reluctantly pose for a picture, without identifying themselves.
