Eurosport Events, the promoter of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, and Colin McRae Vision have today announced an exciting partnership to support charities and good causes that help young people living close to the route of IRC events.
Colin McRae Vision was established following the accident which claimed the lives of rally legend Colin McRae, his five-year-old son Johnny, and two family friends in September 2007, to improve health and education for children around the world.
Eurosport Events and Colin McRae Vision will work with organisers of selected rounds of the IRC to identify suitable projects and initiatives. They will also work with IRC’s partners, manufacturers and drivers to promote the efforts of Colin McRae Vision and increase the levels of exposure and support, with regular updates on the IRC website (www.rally-irc.com), in the IRC newsletter and during television coverage of IRC rounds.
Furthermore, as part of this partnership, a new trophy will be created: the “Colin McRae IRC Flat Out Trophy” that will be presented to the most spectacular driver on all remaining rounds of the IRC, starting with Sata Rallye Açores from 15-17 July. An end of season award, the Colin McRae IRC Flat Out Driver of the Year, will be handed over at the IRC’s end of season awards ceremony.
As a result of the incredible support they have received from fans around the world, the McRae family aims to see as much charitable benefit generated as possible following their loss. They remain extremely focused on ensuring Colin McRae Vision is able to raise and distribute as much funding to good causes as possible. Colin’s widow Alison wishes the main focus of the Vision to be in the areas of children’s health and education.
In March, during the IRC’s inaugural visit to Argentina, Alison McRae joined defending IRC champion Kris Meeke, who was Colin McRae’s protégé and is now an ambassador of Colin McRae Vision, to present a cheque for 74,000 Argentine Pesos (about 14,100 Euros) to the Municipal Hospital in Carlos Paz, where the IRC-counting Rally Argentina was based. The money was used to buy a new X-ray machine to negate the need for patients requiring X-rays to be transferred to Cordoba, some 35 kilometres away.
Marcello Lotti, General Manager of the IRC, said: “We are very proud and delighted to be supporting the work of Colin McRae Vision, a very worthwhile charity. While Colin McRae never competed in the IRC, he was an iconic name whose spectacular driving style and spirit lives on in many of the drivers currently competing in our series. Colin was a man of the people who captured the imagination of rally fans around the world. We look forward to collaborating on a variety of initiatives during the remainder of the current IRC season and beyond.”
Colin McRae’s father Jim McRae added: “After Rally Argentina it quickly became apparent Eurosport Events represented the type of forward thinking organisation that the Vision was looking to partner with. We are currently in dialogue with two further IRC events, Barum Czech Rally Zlín and RACMSA Rally of Scotland, to identify suitable projects for the Vision to support and we hope that these will represent the first of many future donations that we will be able to facilitate through our association with the IRC. With the assistance of the promoters, event organisers, teams and rally fans around the world, we feel we can make a genuine difference to some of the local communities that welcome the IRC family each year.”