KSport USA | Blog

Local rally driver, Mark Jennings-Bates will be sitting next to a new face in the co-drivers
seat at the Big White Winter Rally and Snow Cross presented by Valley Mitsubishi on
December 5th and 6th. That is because his regular co-driver, Jennifer Daly is the
organiser of this event, a first for Kelowna and Big White.
Partnering Jennings-Bates at this event will be John Hall, a very experienced co-driver
and Edmonton native. “John has a wealth of experience that should stand us in good
stead. Unusually, it will be a very level playing field for all competitors because these
stages have never been run before. Being a snow rally, it is likely to be very fast but
also technical, a small mistake can lead to an expensive repair bill” commented
Jennings-Bates.
Daly has spent the past several months working with local authorities and Big White
who have been very welcoming hosts to put together an event in the Western Canada
Rally Association calendar that will be the only true snow rally of the year.
While Jennings-Bates and his fellow competitors are competing on closed forest stage
roads which will have some access for spectator viewing, the general public can also
enter the annual Big White Snow Cross event which is a timed event on an open course
marked by cones and needs very little safety gear to compete in. “This type of an event
is a great feeder for the rally series” stated Jennings-Bates, adding “the public can really
see what it feels like to drive technical road conditions in their daily driver without fear of
harm to themselves or their car.”
Information about the event can be found at http://okanaganrally.wordpress.com/ where
spectators and potential competitors can access all of the necessary information.
Joining Jennings-Bates’s Prescribed Burn Rally Team again will be the Valley Mitsubishi
sponsored vehicle of Craig Ross a local competitor who will be entering this as his
second event after a strong finish in Merritt in October at Pacific Forest Rally. Fans can
see the action up close and personal at the Happy Valley parking area on the Saturday
and Sunday or in the forest stages on the Saturday.
On Sunday, Jennings-Bates will be displaying his car in the Village at Big White and
signing autographs and talking about his upcoming fund raising program and entry into
the 2011 Dakar Rally with Team Bowller Offroad and Rally4Life.


The Prescribed Burn Rally team is based in British Columbia's Okanagan valley. Driver
Mark Jennings-Bates and co-driver Jennifer Daly compete in an open class Subaru
WRX STi, supported by service chief Dave Hood and a team of local volunteers. For
2009 the Prescribed Burn Team will be running the entire Western Canadian Rally
series, as well as select Canadian National and Rally America events.