Rushforth: Dedicates life to Motorsport

By Ellina Mhlanga
SHE has been into motorsport for over 40 years and has contributed a lot to improve the status of the sport and the standards in this country.
Rose Rushforth, the Zimbabwe Motor Sports Federation secretary-general, joined motorsport in 1963 after she realised that there were errors being made in the scoring system and it was also part of her idea to support her husband, Robbie, who was a competitor.
She later joined ZMSF in 1983 as a competitions manager and has been working with the federation since then.
“I felt that there were many errors that were being made by the scoring system. I worked with Bogwheelers Motocross Club and other clubs as an official organiser.
“When I was asked by the national competition manager for Zimbabwe, Walmasly Moss, to take over from him I agreed.
“I dedicated my life to the system and by then there were 14 clubs in Zimbabwe. I joined ZMSF as a competition manager and the position is just the same as the secretary-general but we changed the title to keep in line with the international trends,” said Rushforth.
Motorsport involves a number of different sports – track car racing, karting, motor rally, motocross and dirty track.
Rushforth said she worked hard to ensure that international rules and regulations were applied locally.
“I made sure that rules and regulations internationally were implemented by the clubs and I would try and keep an update for all sports.”
Rushforth did drag racing and car racing but it was just for fun, as her interest was more on administration and improving the sport in the country.
“I tried racing many years ago in a salon car but I wasn’t happy with the ancient revenue. I enjoyed drag racing in the VW car my husband bought for me. That was good but I did it for two years and spent most of my life doing long distance riding on a motorbike from here to Cape Town with other riders,” said Rushforth.
Rushforth said there are a lot of people who have made significant contributions to the sport over the past years.
“Lots of people helped and worked for the sport and clubs. We sent our officials to get training in all different sports and experience counts a lot. Some have been recognised as top class officials.
“For instance Ralph Stead was recognised as a motor rally official and touring car official.
“Tony Rolly is recognised as a top official for motocross and Martin Steenkamp is a cross-country official,” said Rushforth. The ZMSF secretary-general said the sport has been growing over the years and the equipment has become more advanced as compared to the time when she came into the sport.
“It is totally different because the equipment is now more technically and highly developed, especially the motorcycles which are lighter. They weigh half of what they were in the 1970s.
“We had a lot of bad years when we had massive inflation. We had 20 riders but we are starting to recover now and we have 77 riders for motocross.
“However, the other sports are not developing so quickly because they are expensive.
“We want to make sure that we take the sport to the rural areas and give the people there the opportunity to see the sport.
“We have a lot of spectators from Mabvuku because our main track is at Donnybrook Raceway. In Bulawayo, we also have big crowds but as you know spectators are never enough in any sport,” said Rushforth.
The veteran administrator said there are a number of people who have been in the sport for sometime and have been inspirational to their families with some having their children and grandchildren joining motorsport.
“I am very proud of one family, which has the grandfather, the sons and grandsons all getting involved.
“The father started in the 1970s and there is the Mawarire family from Zvishavane. We also have the Whyte family with Shaun’s children as well as Jamie’s all competing.
“We also have new people coming into the sport. It is not all about families. However, the high financial costs are an obstacle. Unless you get money you don’t have much chance. Many drivers are finding it difficult to find sponsorship.
“The only way the sport can keep growing is investing in it,” she said.
Rushforth said she expects more women to join motorsport especially now when they have begun making inroads into the sport.
“We are getting a few women coming now. We have got two reasonable rally drivers, two kart drivers and three or four motorcyclists and that’s good for them.”
Besides being the secretary-general of the ZMSF, Rushforth is the FIM Africa treasurer and has been sitting on the board since 1999.
She is also involved with the organisation of the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally and has been a steward for 25 years.
“I have been to the FIM meeting all over the world and in Paris as Zimbabwe’s representative. I was given national administration colours by the Sports Commission five years ago,” said Rushforth.