resford News G
The
News of the communities of the Paterson and Allyn River Valleys
May 2012
Record Year for Billy Cart Derby
Batman Vs Scone Flyer. Photo: Jane Chandler
B
lessed with perfect weather on Easter Saturday, the 11th Easter Fair and Billy Cart Derby attracted one of the largest crowds seen on Park Street, Gresford. Record entries of 104 drivers and 40 carts kept the very efficient organisers on the run. The long run of wins by the championship team of Phillip McGrath and Alison Cox from Toronto came to an end this year with the unveiling of a shiny stainless steel creation from Thornton. 2012 Grand and Senior Champion is Emily-Jane Foote who burnt up the bitumen at a speed of 38km/h with a time of 20.75 seconds – half a second faster than last year. Junior Champion was Samuel Forster from Toronto and the awesome fitness of the Morpeth hay lumpers – Thomas and Tom Wright and D. Hine – was a real crowd pleaser in the Tag Team Challenge. Entrants were attracted from as far afield as Germany, Sydney and Scone. The Best Team Trophy was won by the Goldhawk Crew again. They always make it a BIG day out. Best Pit Crew went to the Scone Flyer and the Best Decorated Cart was won by BATMAN who put a huge effort into his cart and costume. Thanks to our generous sponsors the event was also very successful financially. The $8,000 raised will be distributed to the local organisations involved and two Road Safety Awareness and Training courses that are voluntarily presented to high school students in the Hunter Valley – ‘Road Whyz’ and ‘Drive2Survive’. Our regular competitor, Paterson MP Bob Baldwin was aboard a cart built as an excavator to give him a chance to repair our very patched main street (which he promised to do when in government). He was no match for Kris Kirsten, from XStrata Coal Ravensworth Underground – our major sponsor. The P&C Cow Pat Lotto was again very popular – a well trained cow from the James Dent herd pronounced the winner quite promptly. With 220 participants the Soccer Club Gum Boot Toss proved the strength of the local females with Jade and Hannah Redhouse both winners and former Gresford cricketer Gemma Dooley the champion lady. The Billy Cart Derby Committee thanks all involved with making the event such a success and would appreciate some new faces to help organise next year’s Derby.
Ken Chandler. ... more Billy Cart Derby pics inside
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