Following her historic WRC3 run at the WRC Safari Rally, Kenya’s top female driver Maxine Wahome has been named the LG/Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK) sports personality of the month for June.
When Wahome, 26, won the WRC3 championship in the arid Naivasha region last month, she made history as the first woman to do so in a major WRC race category. She did this while making her debut in a Ford Fiesta Rally 3 Car.
When presented with her award, a delighted Wahome said, “My goal in the Safari was just to learn the car more and day by day improve on my speed and driving lines, but I am glad I delivered the all-important win incidentally on my second appearance of the iconic event.”
“My first time in the car was on Wednesday of the rally week,” she continued. My usual vehicle is a Subaru Impreza N12. Only on Tarmac, which is entirely unrelated to the Safari, did I test the vehicle.
Maxine won the monthly award by defeating a number of other nominees, including Ferdinand Omanyala, the holder of the African 100m record, and Daniel Taabu, the MVP of the Rugby Driftwood 7s, who ran a time of 9.93 to win gold in the men’s 100m at the Senior Africa Athletics Championship in Reduit, Mauritius.
