"Hi Franco, take a greeting to our friends up there ..."
Behind the scenes, but always present since the dawn of the Off-road Club 4 × 4 Pordenone. Shy and reserved, kind and helpful, Franco Coden left in the elegant manner of him, without complaints or recriminations, at the end of a long illness that had undermined his physique, certainly not in his mind.
He was one of the sector leaders of the Italian Baja, what we could define the colonels of the race (and columns really are), appointed by the supreme general (Mauro Tavella), coordinated by his attendant (Alessandro Moro) and then under the orders of the commander in leader during the competition (the referee).
Here we remember the human and sporting side, his passion for the graves of Cellina, Meduna, Cosa and Tagliamento, joining the Off-road Club where one of his founders, his brother-in-law Bruno Bavaresco: had led him:
“I met Franco when I met my wife. It was 1978. We married two sisters, our paths immediately intertwined. In 1983 I was one of the founders of the 4 × 4 Pordenone off-road vehicle and he became part of it. Our families, with their daughters still in diapers, took part in the monthly social outings. Then gradually the first rallies, Franco and I together as a crew participating in the Venice-Cortina and the laps on Gradisca. The Club began organizing races, endurance tests before the advent of the Italian Baja. So an epic of twenty-five editions, an extraordinary world-class event that will now continue without him, the enlightened and reliable head of the sector, with a deep knowledge of the tracks. I cherish every memory, Franco has been able to be appreciated by everyone ".
In the photo by Gianna Vardanega one of the special moments of the gala dinner that celebrated the 25th edition of the Italian Baja (21 June 2018): Mauro Tavella entrusts the president of Aci Italia, Angelo Sticchi Damiani, with the delivery of a plaque to Franco Coden in honor of the loyalty and spirit of service with which he collaborated in running the race.
"The Italian Baja is also an extended family, with its joys and sorrows - underlines Mauro Tavella - to be faced together, keeping together. Franco Coden was one of those people you could always count on, they never betrayed you. Precise and impeccable, generous with advice, attentive and scrupulous. Now, I am sure, he has already found his old friends up there, Renzo Pazienti and Gabriele Turchetto, the "Caco" Claudio Azzaretti with whom to discuss balise and tapes, my father Giovanni, always one step ahead, while Armando Forni looks at them sly, ready to make fun of them. Here, this is how I imagine these teachers of ours and I feel their teaching very profound ".
Carlo Ragogna Italian Baja Press Office
