I wanted to teach the men a lesson

Jul 24, 2009

<b>Susan Muwonge, the umospoc rally challenge winner</b><br>“I am going to teach the men a lesson. My dream is to become a national champion,” Susan Muwonge vowed in an interview with The New Vision in May 2006.

Susan Muwonge, the umospoc rally challenge winner
“I am going to teach the men a lesson. My dream is to become a national champion,” Susan Muwonge vowed in an interview with The New Vision in May 2006.
Last weekend, she saw this dream come true, when she became the first Ugandan woman to win a national championship event after she cruised to victory in the UMOSPOC Rally Challenge.

In a Subaru N4, she cruised past in the male dominated field, in the last section. Arthur Baguma spoke to Muwonge, commonly known as the ‘Super Lady’, among the rallying fraternity.

Are you daring?
I am. But the fact is that I am just like any other woman. There is nothing special about me. What I do is what makes me special.

Did you expect to win?
I was calm and relaxed but I had to keep up the pace. For a long time I have had a conviction that one day I would become a national champion.

Did you drive during pregnancy?
What! (laughs). I had time for that before entering rallying. It all depends. One can choose to enter rallying, then take a break to have babies and then resume. But I did the child bearing before joining rallying. I have four children, two handsome boys and two beautiful girls.

Who are the majority of your fans?
Both men and women form a huge base of my fans. But women support me more because competing in such a sport dominated by men is a source of pride for women. They see it as a sign of female resilience and a challenge to the male ego. Women rally behind me pretty more than men.

So the men don’t support you?
Even men support me but they always want more than being my fans and supporting me. They will try other things, than just being fans….

What do you mean?
Laughs…you know I am a beautiful lady, and that is understandable when men try to approach me. But I know how to handle them. I am happily married.

You are a mother, a teacher and a rally driver. how do you balance all this?
I do school work during the day and attend to my home affairs throughout the evening. But I always spare some time to go for training in my car. I have a timetable for everything I do. It is not that I go rallying everyday.

Rallying is once in a while. As a teacher, I also have a time table which I follow religiously. The rest of the time I spend with my family. Actually most of the time is for my family.

What is your advice on parenting to other women with multiple roles?
Parenting should be a priority for any mother, regardless of how busy you are. Children need our love and time to be there for them. If I wasn’t good at home my husband would not have given me the support he has given me to pursue rallying all these years.

The long journey to the top
My husband taught me how to drive about 10 years ago, but I only started racing in December 2005. I have always loved speed.
But becoming a rally driver was not part of the dream. I caught the bug in 2005 when I watched one of the sprints at Lubiri and realised that I could do the speed.

I talked to my husband (Lawrence Muwonge), who supported me.
The next call I made was to seasoned rally driver, Arthur Blick, who offered to help me improve my skills. Soon after, I bought a Mitsubishi Evo 2, formerly driven by Jamil Ssenyonjo, which marked my entry into rallying. My first challenge was in a sprint at Lubiri against seasoned drivers like Rose Lwakataka and Laila Mayanja.

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