Damsels in Distress – BSRA #2 Portrush | RALLERY

I’ll hold my hands up and confess that I was a bit sceptical when I heard there was to be a National Rally held in Northern Ireland.

Would enough people from the mainland make the effort to attend? Could the all-female scooter club, Damsels in Distress pull it off? Hell yeah! Not only did they pull it off in style but they sold it out and made it look easy as well. Blinding effort ladies.

At capacity

With a capacity limit of 900 and all tickets sold, this rally would be smaller than the usual mainland Nationals but was still big enough to have a presence in the pretty harbour town of Portrush.

Ferry crossings from all ports leading to Ireland, north or south, were sold out months in advance. This meant I had to go for the Scottish Cairnryan-Belfast route, with a stopover in Scotland before and after the rally. It also meant there was just me and the missus on two Lambrettas, so we had much less fannying around than when we’re riding in a bigger group.

Early crossing

The Scottish crossing only takes 2.5 hours and there are various sailing times during the day. Staying a few miles away from the port the night before meant, after a few drinks, we got excited and swapped our 11 am crossing to 7:30 am – which meant we’d be on holiday sooner than planned. It also meant we had to cajole clubmate, Mark into driving up late at night rather than in the early hours of the morning. He arrived at our digs at 1:15 am after a 300-mile trek.

After a very pleasant crossing, we were soon riding out into an overcast Belfast at just after 10 am. Well, we were after we bump-started Linsey’s Lambretta (she had to do the push of shame off the ferry). Thanks to the Nite Owls for waiting with her.

Antrim Coast

We took the scenic route along the stunning Antrim Coast. It’s only around 90 miles and you’re riding beside the sea for about 80 of them. The sun even came out for a while and we were soon pulling into Kelly’s Complex to pick up our wristbands and have a well-deserved beer. The bar was already heaving by 1 pm and new arrivals were arriving all the time.

A warm welcome

Although there’s accommodation at the venue, we’d opted to stay in town – in a hotel that soon became the meeting point for any passing friends. We had about 25 of us in the bar area on Friday afternoon, with just two of us actually staying there. The staff were so friendly and accommodating all weekend.

Despite Portrush not being a big town, there are more than enough pubs and bars in town to enable you to find new ones, even if you have been before (Portrush has played host to the annual Gathering of the Clans Rally for many years). As you’d expect in Ireland, the pubs are lively, welcoming and full of good humour.

Swapping jackets

Whilst sitting in the hotel bar, discarded riding gear and bags strewn all around, we heard the sad news that our Col’s RST jacket had gone missing from Kelly’s. We’d only been with him half an hour before. I tried ringing him to see if it’d turned up but there was no answer. After a while, it was time for us to go and get changed and the penny dropped. I’d accidentally picked up Col’s jacket and left my very similar jacket there. I tried calling him again and of course, his mobile was ringing in his jacket pocket… in my hotel. We’d been listening to a phone ringing for the last hour and couldn’t place it. We got one of the girls to tell him what had happened and he rode down to retrieve it wearing my RST. Whoops.

XSLF

The girls had laid on free 24-seater coaches for the weekend to get people to and from town and the do, there were also plenty of taxis knocking around.

We got up to Kelly’s as the second band were on stage. XSLF are a Stiff Little Fingers tribute and they had the very busy main room bouncing. The venue is perfect and has a nice feel to it. There’s a large main ‘Deerstalker bar’ which is a pub in itself, then ‘The Barn’ which is the main function room, plus another large room joined on, that was used for the soul room.

Buzzing

The good thing about a new event is that people are excited to explore and want to have a look at what’s happening. Being ticket only also means people are more inclined to go to the do and on Friday night all the rooms were buzzing, a great energy and atmosphere – no matter what musical persuasion you are. There was something for everybody.

Late night fodder

Having only eaten the sandwiches our Scottish B&B had made for a takeaway breakfast I was starving. Luckily the site had a proper chippy that was open till 2 am. It even had a Vespa on the wall (sold to them by one of the Damsel ladies). Come out the do, get some chips and walk back to town. A perfect ending to the first night.

Damp ride out

Changeable weather conditions meant we had sunshine and showers on Saturday morning. We managed to time it right and get the scooter out for a dry ride up to Kelly’s to see the ride out leaving. I’d say there were a good 125 scooters on the ride out (which left just as it started raining again).

Custom show

Inside, the northern room had been transformed into a custom show for the day and there was a fair selection of scooters in there. Everything from Dead Man’s Shoes (nice and shiny again after I saw it on Friday during the ride up) to an electric smallframe Vespa, custom GTS, the Gasworks BSSO/Endurance race team Lambrettas and a fine selection of customs and classics.

Keeping with the girl power theme, the show was judged by Cindy as well.

There were also a few t-shirt/clothing stalls inside but the parts dealer had let them down unfortunately so you were stuffed if you needed anything important.

A great craic

Back in town, we spent the afternoon laughing at the kind of stupid scooterist humour you expect to find on any rally. Banter was flying, piss-taking and abuse the norm. All harmless fun but the pubs were a great craic (as they say in these parts). A fun-filled afternoon of merrymaking. All the locals we met were friendly and happy to have us in town as well, which is nice.

In the Doghouse

Saturday evening started with karaoke in the Deerstalker bar at Kelly’s, with Big Bad Baz taking the honours with a Manc anthem and the kind of presence usually only a Gallagher can carry off. We didn’t really want to leave the bar but eventually made our way into the main venue as the second band were mid-set. Ska band Doghouse were full of energy, sounded great and kept the crowd skanking.

The venue was busy again for the final night’s shenanigans and everybody seemed to be in good spirits. The 1 am curfew meant the lights soon came on and it was time to get to the chippy again. With full bellies, smiling faces and happy thoughts we walked back to town again.

Ulster fry

After a full Ulster fry, it was time to head back to Belfast for an afternoon ferry. The sun was shining again and we took the time to do a bit of sightseeing (stopping off at the Giant’s Causeway and Rope Bridge car parks – we’ve been before so didn’t need to pay to see them again). Just riding this stunning coastline with near-empty roads is a tourist attraction in itself.

We covered the 89 miles back to Belfast in perfect conditions and didn’t need to use waterproofs once during our trip, although it tipped it down whilst waiting to board. Some others seemed to have a rain cloud following their whole journey.

Warm and fuzzy

I came back from Portrush feeling like you should after a great weekend away, it left a nice post-rally glow. Even a week later we’re still smiling and saying just how good it was.

The girls knocked this rally out of the ballpark. Everything from start to finish was handled and organised impeccably. The venue was outstanding, with lovely staff and more than enough people serving drinks, even at peak times there was no waiting more than a couple of minutes at the bar. Kelly’s security staff were fair, cheerful and you could have a laugh with them.

I’m really hoping this rally is on again next year and that they can find a bit of extra capacity to allow more people to attend. We’ll have to wait until later in the year to find out…

Well done all involved, ‘Damsels not Stressed’ should be your new club name.

Words: Iggy

Photos: Iggy, Ian Hedges

Special thanks to Ian for the use of his photos, I accidentally locked my camera in the glovebox of my Eibar before dropping it off at Chiselspeed 70 miles from home.