THE future of the Jim Clark Rally is in doubt after organisers could not get a permit from the governing body of motor sport to hold the 2017 event following a fatal crash two years ago.
The rally, first launched 46 years ago, has not been staged since Iain Provan, 64, Elizabeth Allan, 63, and Len Stern, 71, died at a stage of the race near Coldstream in 2014.
Now organisers have said that after a consultation with insurers, the 2017 event will have to be cancelled "and the very future of the event is now in serious jeopardy".
Elizabeth Allan, Iain Provan and Len Stern died at the Jim Clark Rally in 2014
Following concerns over delays on a Crown Office report, it was anounced at the beginning of December that a joint fatal accident inquiry is to be held into deaths of four people at the Snowman Rally in Inverness and the Jim Clark Rally.
The Crown Office said new legislation would allow it to hold such a hearing for the first time.
The fatal accident inquiry will be held in the Lothian and Borders sheriffdom.
A statement said the inquiry would examine the full circumstances surrounding the deaths and "help to avoid such incidents happening in the future".
Now Rob Jones, the chief executive of the Motor Sports Association has told the organisers that following "extensive consultation with our insurance brokers and insurers" it would "not be appropriate" to issue a permit for the rally under the FAI was completed and the sheriff has issued its findings.
A rally spokesman said: "The rally organisers are at a loss to understand the insurer's reasoning behind this. In other fields where FAIs have taken place, whether in the workplace or in other sports, there has been no suspension of activity.
"In such cases new procedures and practices have been implemented following such accidents to allow work/sport to carry on. That was also the case following the tragedy on the Jim Clark Rally in 2014.
"Over the past two years, the organising team behind this rally has been greatly encouraged by the ongoing support of Scottish Borders Council, local Police, Berwickshire's MP and MSP plus the continuing huge and enthusiastic support of local residents and businesses, land owners and farmers.
"Given this decision, a long tradition of motor sports events in Berwickshire, which launched the careers of Jim Clark and Sir Jackie Stewart, Andrew Cowan and Louise Aitken Walker MBE and which stretch back to motor racing just after the second World War at Charterhall and Winfield, is at risk of coming to an end.
"It is the rally organising team's fervent hope that rallying can return to the Berwickshire roads in 2018 to continue a sporting tradition which the Jim Clark Rally instigated in 1970 to commemorate the achievements of borders farmer, rally driver and world champion racing driver, Jim Clark."
In November, the organisers warned that the future of the rally was in jeopardy because of delays over a Crown Office investigation into the 2014 crash.
The rally, which was launched in 1970 and has become an annual event since 1997, was cancelled in 2016 due to a lack of entries.
Organisers say the event injected in excess of £3.5m into the local economy over the three days of its duration each year.
Dan Wright, Jim Clark Rally chairman said: "In any other workplace or sporting endeavour, routine carries on while FAIs are underway, so we don't understand the insurer's reasoning behind this decision. They may well have consulted extensively with their insurance partners, but the rally organisers were not consulted."
Rally Manager, Russel Blood added: "We understand that the inquest process under English law differs from Fatal Accident Inquiries under Scots Law, so to take this decision without wider consultation, is not what should be expected from a sport's UK national governing body. This outcome has thoroughly demoralised the whole team behind the running of this major motor sports event."
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