Remembering Richard.

Today [Thursday] sees the memorial service in London for the 2001 WRC champion Richard Burns, who lost his battle against illness last month at the age of just 34.

Here Claire Walker looks back at the relationship she enjoyed with the only Englishman to lift the World Rally Championship title...

"I will be the first to admit it, when I was eight and sat with my Dad watching TV it was tiresome watching a load of cars racing through a muddy forest for the seemingly unoriginal excuse that it 'was fun'. It did get tedious watching Tommi Makinen winning yet another championship when all I really wanted to do was watch Sabrina The Teenage Witch.

"But then a certain red haired, cheeky smiling man from Reading came into the picture. Richard had been driving in the Championship for quite a while when he first caught my eye. I can't remember which event or which season it was when he first jumped out at me but I suppose now that is irrelevant. From that moment on I was hooked on the WRC and decided that I was going to be a Richard Burns fan.

"I can remember having to go to school whilst my Dad was in Monte Carlo or down in Birmingham to see Burnsie open a new car showroom. He would come home telling us that he'd got yet another autograph or that Richard had told them that he was on his third Mitsubishi road going car as the other two had been 'nicked'. It wasn't until Monte Carlo 2003 that I had my first contact with Richard. I wasn't actually there, I was sat in my school gym stressing over a very difficult mock GCSE maths exam, but Dad went to the Monte shakedown and Richard walked over. After being asked to say hello to me Richard grinned and said 'Hello Claire!' down the video camera whilst giving me a little wave and that trademark smile that seldom left his face.

"My first meeting came almost nine months later, in what turned out to be Richard's last rally before he became ill. Me being me, I decided that I would make a poster for the shakedown. Rally Catalunya 2003 was my first rally, I didn't really know what to expect, but I didn't let that daunt me, I walked straight over to Peugeot and just waited. We all know that Richard had his moments, always wanted the car to be perfect and who would blame him? I therefore expected to be waiting around a while for Richard to come over, but I didn't and I definitely could not have predicted his reaction.

"It sounds a bit of a clich? but I do remember it like it was yesterday. Richard walked out of the motorhome, immediately my poster caught his eye and that big smile lit up his face. Ignoring the French media who kept insisting on calling him Richie, he marched straight over to me and said 'Wow! That's fantastic! It must have taken you ages'. In the space of the next two minutes I lost count of the amount of times Richard said 'Thank you' to me. He asked me where to sign it, signed it and walked away but then returned a minute later, looked at the poster again, laughed and said 'I think my hair is shorter than that in real life though!'

"Along with his smile that's what I'll always remember about Richard. From personal experience he always had time for his fans, he would always put his fans first and when you're 15 and your hero comes up to you, treats you and talks to you as a normal and individual person and is immensely grateful of a seemingly trivial poster that you've made, it's a big thing.

"And that is why I stuck with him. A couple of weeks after this meeting I was expecting with eager anticipation for Richard to win his second championship, but then the news came that he had just been diagnosed with a brain tumour.

"Over the past couple of years it has been my utter privilege to have been able to continue writing to Richard and organise things for him, his partner Zoe, friend and co driver Robert Reid and manager and friend Clare Caudwell. From writing letters, to making big collages, to organising a big memorabilia book full of messages from fans from a certain forum, and more recently sending some home video footage of Richard down to everyone involved in supporting him through his illness.

"I think that during all of this, Richard intensified my belief that he is and always will be the most amazing person I have ever met. In August 2004 after making him a collage of photos from his career I received a card through the post from both Richard and Zoe, in which they thanked me for my collage which Richard 'loved', told me that the Scandavian flick was 'one of his favourites' and also said they hoped my GSCE results were what I had hoped for.

"Exactly a year later, I was invited by Richard's manager to go and spend some time with Richard and his family and friends at Castle Combe. All I can say is that I was treated like royalty. If Robert Reid or David Williams weren't asking me if I was being looked after properly, I was being driven around the track in Richards Group N Subaru Legacy with Martin Rowe or being laughed at by Richard for being soaked to the skin due to the atrocious weather. Although this was my first time in a rally car and it was amazing, the highlight of the day was being able to spend time with Richard and been able to be involved in the procession of his cars.

"When I look back at it now, of course rallying has lost a true sportsman, a great driver and an icon for the sport, but more importantly the world has lost a true English gentleman and an extremely brave one at that. Throughout his fight not once did Richard give up, reminding me of something he once said during 2002, 'You should never give up, there is just no point in giving up', a lesson which we could all learn from. Even though he is gone I will continue to wear my RB hat and Burn Baby Burns t-shirt with pride because there is no was about it, Richard is my guy, he always has been and always will be. Yes he did make me love rallying but on a personal level he put my whole life into perspective, shaped who I am today and made me strive to be the person I want to be in the future.

"To put it simply he is an inspiration and there is no way that I will ever forget him or what he did for me."

Claire