Who will succeed Mervyn Whyte as the next Event Director at the North West 200?

In 2017, a succession strategy was put in place with the end goal of ensuring a smooth handover of power to Fergus Mackay (Operations Manager) and Gillian Lloyd (Event Co-ordinator), with no official timescale in place.

Whether or not that plan will bear fruit is unclear, but Whyte says he anticipates a decision before Christmas.

Asked who could step in as his replacement, Whyte said: “That’s the question.”

He continued: “I’ll be involved with the committee moving forward in deciding who the new Event Director will be and I’d like to think that will be in place within the next couple of months, and certainly by Christmas.

“At this time I just don’t know and it will be up to the committee along with myself to decide what’s happening. This is nothing new to them because I’ve been talking to them about it for the past couple of months, and I’ve been open and transparent in all that I’ve been doing to keep them up to speed.

“I’ve been fortunate to have such a really good team around me from the committee to the management team and staff, and generally as well from competitors to sponsors.

“It’s all about building relations and working with people on top of everything else.”

Whyte progressed from the voluntary role of flag marshal in 1973 through a raft of roles within the Coleraine Club, including Race Secretary, before he eventually took charge when Billy Nutt retired as Clerk of the Course in 2000.

He believes that grounding of working at all levels within the club was invaluable preparation for when he became responsible for the overall running of the race.

“I started as a flag marshal in 1973 and I did chief marshal after that and then course superintendent,” said Whyte, whose last race in charge will now go down as the 90th anniversary meeting last year.

“From when I started in ’73 I’ve probably been through every role there is at the North West 200, which I’ve found has been invaluable when I took overall responsibility for the event because it gives you an insight into how all those roles work.

“It’s going to be a hard task for whoever comes in, there is no doubt about that, but we will give them whatever help and support that they need moving forward,” he added.

“The coronavirus is going to be the big issue at the moment – deciding where we go once we have the new person in the role. We need to make the right decision to take us forward and that’s something we have to decide over the next couple of months for 2021, which is going to be a major challenge.”

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