Great Korea move
Menstrie couple who made their mark at 2018 Winter Olmpics
A Menstrie couple were a driving force behind the winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
Rod and Carolyn Johnston were part of the `backroom team’ that helped millions of viewers watch athletes compete last month.
The couple won contracts to help transport American television presenters and crews around the Olympic venues in South Korea.
They spent six weeks driving NBC sports desk crews around the 30 locations.
Rod and wife Carolyn, both courtesy car drivers, moved to Menstrie 10 years ago from Aberdeenshire.
The pair arrived back to the snow-bound Hillfoots this week. Rod said: “Despite temperatures of –350 we had a successful trip.
“The weather here might actually be worse than it was in South Korea. There’s more snow here.”
They secured the job thanks to a friend of Rod’s, who covered the Sochi games in 2014 and recommended him.
Rod started in his own business, with the help of Business Gateway Clackmannanshire, shipping tourists around Scotland in V-class and C-class Mercedes–Benz.
He has worked all over the UK and Ireland since 1999 and has worked at more than 50 tournaments and events.
He was Outdoor Supervisor at The Open Championship which included responsibility for all player transportation vehicles.
Carolyn has worked various events, including the London Olympics, The Open Championship, The Ryder Cup 2014 at Gleneagles and the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
The duo had to learn the route to the venues being used as part of the games in order to ferry presenters and camera crews from event to event throughout the two-week games.
He added: “Our accommodation was beside the athletes in Gangneung and that allowed us the opportunity to cheer on both the UK men and women curling teams.
“We knew that they’re based in Stirling so we wanted to go and watch them.
“We ended up sitting alongside Eve Muirhead’s family shouting and cheering.
“We were able to watch the full bronze medal match when Eve and her team just fell short on the last end.”
Of the country, Rod added: “South Korea was great. It’s very Americanised. I was very impressed by it.
“It was interesting to see how people from different cultures on the other side of the world live.
“We took a trip on a day off to Seoul where there’s a population of about 20 million.”
They were then forced to endure a three day journey to get back home.
They were stranded in Amsterdam for two days thanks to snow across Scotland before finally flying to Aberdeen and then negotiating the treacherous roads as they made their way home.
They arrived back in the village late on Friday evening, only to be greeted with heavy snowfall on the road between Menstrie and Tullibody.