The Canaryball Rally was a fantastic success with 17 cars starting from the Nest in Norwich on Wednesday 9th October, waved off by the legendary NCFC player Jeremy Goss.
We all started our journey well down to the M11/M25 and then past the Dartford bridge. We were delighted by a shout out on Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 show which gave everyone a further boost. However, we were stopped in our tracks by an incident on the M20 and sadly, due to the nature of the incident the road was closed and we sat there for nearly 2 hours before the traffic started moving. We were going to miss our train! However it didn’t dampen our spirits and the Whatsapp group chat commenced in gusto!
Our trip to our first stop Arnhem was a very wet one with the locals even pulling off the side of the road as the rain was torrential! Most of the teams arrived later than expected, but we were all happy to grab a beer and some food and to talk through our experiences of day one.
Day two started off really well, with mostly everyone meeting at Vitesse Arnhem’s stadium. A great team photo taken and we all set off for Munich!
The scavenger hunt is well underway now and the teams are battling it out for points! Team 4 ‘Milan or Bust’ manage to get an interview with Chris Evans on his breakfast show which was a real treat for everyone and that earned them a well deserved 1000 points, but they were soon overtaken by Team 1 ‘Team Credo’ as they spotted an Eddie Stobart lorry which was also worth 1000 points!!
Great day had by all, and after the visit to the Olympic Stadium, we all got to the hotel safe and well, but it became a bit of a habit that we were waiting for Team 7 ‘Lunch Club on Tour’ as they had to charge their Tesla every few hours. In fact it was a real challenge for them to actually find electric charging points, so they were given extra points for this!
A fun night proceeded in Munich city centre where we really got to know the locals, and there were a few sore heads in the morning!
Day 3 was a shorter route and the most picturesque, as we travelled through the Alps and into Italy to see the San Siro Stadium.
Day 3 ended with the Gala dinner at our hotel in Switzerland where all the points were gathered for the scavenger hunt and spot prizes were given!
All teams were fighting for the Canaryball Rally Trophy, but only one could win it..
And the winners of the Canaryball rally 2019 were Team UPukki! Anita from the team said thank you to everyone and said on behalf of the team they would be presenting the trophy to Mr & Mrs Powell in memory of their son David who was tragically killed in August. David was supposed to be travelling with Team UPukki and was so excited for the trip.
Day 4 was a long drive back up to Nurburg in Germany and many stopped off on their way up to see different sights and places of interest.
Day 5 was the day of thrill seekers! The Nurburgring was not for the faint hearted and a few of the rally teams took their cars onto the legendary track.
Thankfully everyone came away from the track unscathed and we started our long journey back home.
The Canaryball Rally has been a huge success, not only for everyone involved in the rally itself, but the Community Sports Foundation #buildthenest campaign will be benefiting from the amazing amount raised, which so far is nearly £70,000! We are hoping that by the end of the year this figure will have gone up to our target of £100,000.
Norwich City Football Club has just announced that they have pledged to match-fund every pound CSF raise up to a total of £500k! So already our £70k is worth £140,000 to the Nest! Let’s keep donating and get this figure up!