The committee had long been trying to organize a Consistency Run (or rather, a Rally, as it is better known in motoring circles) for club members and our efforts were realized in early December.

The event was splendidly organized by Tony Vassallo and his crew of volunteers, all old hands at this sort of activity.  Tony and Co have, in fact, organized various similar events for other clubs over the years and their experience showed throughout our activity as the organization was perfect.  The only thing that spoiled the Run was the lack of participants.  In fact, only ten members turned up for the event, but those that did show up had a very good time.

The Consistency Run involved various people to marshal and time the cars that were taking part in the event.  Drivers and navigators were briefed before the start when Tony explained the terminology used and what participants were expected to do during the event. 

In brief, members were given a route map, which included various boxes with sketches of the major junctions that cars had to follow.  Each drawing indicated the route that had to be followed.  It also included various route checks, which consisted of nine questions, the answers to which had to be sought at specific locations throughout the route.  Marshals were also present along the route to time the cars passing through.  Some of these spots were marked on the route map but the majority were secret time checks, which were not indicated on the maps.  Other marshals manned Roving Route Checks and these were mainly aimed at ensuring participants followed traffic directions.

Defaulters were penalized at all of the above checks.  Early arrivals at a time check were awarded two penalty points for every minute they were before the due arrival time but only one penalty point for every minute they were behind schedule.  This difference in penalty points is intended to ensure that participants do not break any speed limits and try to keep to the stipulated speed.  Although this is on average a low speed, the rate of the event is not slow, by any means, as participants have to cope with all the traffic conditions one normally experiences whilst driving.  The Roving Route Checks awarded twenty-five penalty points for every traffic regulation infringement observed.  And this is where most participants earned the bulk of the penalty points that they were eventually lumped with.  The first such check was at a stop sign in St Paul’s Bay where practically all participants ran foul of the regulations.

The route took us through various towns and villages all over the island.  Starting from Floriana, we headed to Marsa, up to Luqa along the airport periphery, through Qrendi and the outskirts of Siggiewi to Rabat.  From here, we headed down to Bugibba via the outskirts of Rabat and Mgarr, to the first stop near Ta’ Fra Ben Restaurant.  The scenery was beautiful and varied, especially to those of us who do not usually stray much from their town of origin.  The second part of the rally took us round more country roads to the final stop at Bahrija, where participants then settled down to a Fenkata at one of the popular restaurants there.

Needless to say, no member managed to get to the finish without earning any penalty points.  Some of us got lost along the way, whilst others got severely penalized for being too early after trying to make up time lost trying to identify route check clues.  All in all, a very rewarding experience as the official results show.

Although we haven’t yet determined why the number of participants was so low, we believe that this may be due to name of the event.  This indicates that cars will be expected to drive along at a slow, steady pace, which is not the case, as all participants can assure you.  Some members have also assured us that they did not show up because of the extended shopping hours that prevail at this time of the year.  In any case, we’ll be organizing a similar event in the near future and we urge those who did not participate to try and make it this time round.  It’s worth the effort.