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Sacha Payne looks at the mower race that stops a town.
It's fast. It's competitive and you may come to grief in a hay bale. Welcome to the world of ride-on mower racing.
Each summer, the Gippsland town of Cowwarr (population 300) hosts the Cowwarr Cutters Cup, the Annual Championships of A.R.O.L.M.R.A, or the Australian Ride-On Lawn Mower Racing Association.
A paddock next to the football oval is cleared and a challenging route is marked out with hay bales when the ride-on mower enthusiasts roll into town.
Cowwarr has hosted the Cutters Cup for the past three years as a fundraiser for the local Country Fire Authority. The town lost 11 houses in the 2006 bushfires; floods and the drought have further dampened spirits. The cup is a rare reason to celebrate.
Gates open at 10am and the action starts at 11am next Saturday. If you get in early, you can pull up your camping chair trackside to get close to the action.
There may not be any grid girls or B-grade celebrities but there are food stalls and a beer tent, as well as off-track entertainment for children. Activities include the "thong-put". Buy a pair of thongs (one size fits all)and compete to see who has the longest throw.
Mower race rules dictate each machine must be at least 50 per cent mower, with the blades removed. Mowers have been known to reach speeds of up to 90kmh on a straight stretch. At the last cup, police recorded a top speed of 68kmh.
Many of the contestants are mechanics or former motocross racers and build their own machines. Races take place around the world. The sport is believed to have started in the U.K.
AROLMRA president Diana Millsteed says it started in Australia a decade ago in Harrietville Victoria, when "a group of guys pushed their mowers up to the top of a hill and let loose to see how fast they could go."
Cowwarr is on the Gippsland Plains Country Road, 27 kilometres from Traralgon, about two hours' drive from Melbourne. Free camping is available at the football oval for the cup, or phone the Central Gippsland Visitor Information Centre on 1800 677 520 for accommodation.
Juniors Are Revving Up Posted by Roz Long CFA Member
Tuesday, 20 October 2009 15 year old junior member, Tracey Lucas from Mossi Tambo Junior Brigade is really looking forward to the Melbourne Cup weekend for two reasons.
Tracey is a member of the Australian Ride On Lawn Mower Racing Association (AROLMRA), she is also a member of the CFA Junior Volunteer Development Program (JVDP) of the Mossi Tambo Rural Fire Brigade.
The CFA -JVDP provides an opportunity for young people between the ages of 11 to 16 years to have fun, develop friendships, develop skills, learn responsibility, commitment, teamwork, take on challenges and learn leadership roles as well as developing and enhancing a community spirit; as a by-product of all this they also learn basic firefighting skills and fire safety.
It is a big commitment each week from these young people and they continue to eagerly embrace new learning opportunities.
The latest challenge for these junior volunteers was to learn how to develop and implement a sustainable community event after a request from AROLMRA for someone to host a race event in the Bairnsdale area and Tracey has been a valued member of this organizing committee.
The Mossi-Tambo Mower Muster is to be held at the Salt Creek Camp Draft arena at Johnsonville and the committee would like to express our gratitude to Mr Ian Morrison for making his land available to us.
The days events will start at 11.30 with an official Welcome and the singing of the National Anthem by two young Bruthen ladies (Jess Porter and JDVP member Robyn Johnson), followed by the drivers briefing. First race is at 12 noon.
Lawn mower racing in Australia began as a fund raiser for a fire brigade and this race is no exception, with the money raised going towards offsetting some of the costs involved in getting the Junior teams to the Annual CFA State Championships.
Its also a great opportunity to see some fast, furious (and sometimes funny) action as the drivers pit their skills against each other to not only take out trophies on the day but to amass points towards the overall annual winner, with only twelve race events on the calendar per year, each point gained is important and drivers haul their mowers long distances in order to compete, some from as far away as Bendigo, Beechworth and Geelong.
The Mossi Tambo JVDP members (made up of young people from the Ensay, Bruthen, Wiseleigh and Tambo Upper) have planned free novelty events for spectator children, these include a spanner and spark plug foot race, colouring competitions, photo opportunities with CFA’s own Captain Koala and lots more, refreshments will be available within the venue and gate entry is only $5 per person over 16 years of age.
Harvey Norman and Acer have donated a notebook computer and photo printer, and Bairnsdale Motel have donated accommodation as major raffle prizes- their generous support is appreciated, the raffle will be drawn at 2pm.
Also happening in this half hour break will be a display of the machines, giving an opportunity for spectators to get a closer look at the mowers and talk with the drivers.
About the Mowers -
Standard mowers – these are your normal everyday mower with the cutter deck removed and a kill switch added-event is open to all ages and gender-but a great one for the novice racer or children over ten.
Junior modified -These have an 110cc or ‘postie bike’ motor installed, driver must be under 16 years of age.
Modified Mower– not more than 18.5hp
Super Modified Class ‘‘C’’ -does not exceed 200cc capacity
Super Modified Class ‘’B’’-does not exceed 250cc capacity
Super Modified Class ‘‘A’’-does not exceed 400cc capacity.
All mowers and drivers must conform to regulations-which can be found on the AROLMRA website, drivers must be registered with AROLMRA and must have completed all paperwork prior to racing –for more information go to http://www.arolmra.tk/
or view the Youth Unit Newsletter via the link http://www.youth.news.cfals.info/
(if not registered, to received the Newsletter, follow the prompts to be registered). The Flyer is included in the Newsletter.
