Motorsport marshals contribute to enjoyable, efficient, and safer motor racing. These unsung heroes are responsible for the safety of competitors and are stationed at various points of danger around racetracks to assist them in case of any collisions, accidents or track problems.
Now Namibia has its own Extreme Safety Marshal Association (ESMA), which is a new initiative founded by Roger !Gaeb and Sheldon Augustus to uphold safety and professionalism in Namibian motor sport.
Working as an affiliate of the Namibian Motorsport Federation (NMSF) the association aspires to bring new light to motorsport through involving the youth and thereby creating awareness for motorsport and engaging youth in extracurricular activities. The association’s main goal however is to provide much-needed structure to marshalling in Namibia by creating a database of marshals and providing regular basic, code specific and specialised training as well as efficient equipment and safety gear, thereby eliminating current habits of using unskilled, insufficiently trained and randomly selected personel.
Roger and Sheldon started as ordinary circuit marshals at the Tony Rust Race Track in 2015 and 2014 and soon afterwards identified a need for a more organised way of running marshals, not only in terms of training but also in terms logistics.
In 2016 they started the Windhoek Marshal Club under auspices of the Windhoek Motor Club and have since built on their knowledge and leadership skills until they were ready to take on a larger turf.
In 2018 they started the Extreme Safety Marshal Club, which also falls under the Windhoek Motor Club. However, the Extreme Marshal Club is also utilised by other motor clubs such as Rehoboth MC, Okahandja MC and Outlaw MC.
This in turn lead to the formation of the ESMA which strives to recruit new marshals in the various towns that have motor clubs in 2019 and together with the older more experienced marshals groom a new generation of marshals that not only have adequate marshal training but are also proficient in first aid and fire training for a better, safer motorsport.