The stands were nearly entirely full at this Saturday’s lawnmower races at the South Cariboo Summer Festival.
“It exceeded all expectations for an inaugural race,” says organizer Gina Myhill-Jones.
There was a total of 11 racers participating with about 15 mowers total so racers could enter different classes, she says. Some of the racers came from as far away as Calgary (Chris Grant), Castlegar (Evan Negreiff) and Dog Creek (Brett Melville).
“We did not have much in the way of online registration. Coming into this it was pretty much a leap of faith to say we were gonna run because we didn’t know how many people were gonna come.”
The races had been two years in the making after the races were cancelled last year due to the 2017 wildfires.
Myhill-Jones was out there racing herself but says she’s looking to step it up for next year.
“I had no idea how fast some people could make a lawnmower go. I just was completely blown away. I now have to really jump on board and try to increase my chances of being able to at least keep up next year.”
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The sportsmanship by all the racers was really outstanding, she says.
“Real serious racers but they knew their primary goal was to be entertaining as well as win the event.”
The racers were going fast enough to make her cringe while out on the track, says Myhill-Jones. She added that according to the winning racer, his top clock speed was 45 km/h.
“We did not have a timer out there because we expected that it would be those of us with the stock mowers going walking speed. We had no idea we should be timing things. So for next year, even though it’s not a timed event, you don’t win by time, it’s good to know what your best lap was. So we will, I hope, have additional timers and judges for next year.”
The event is already growing, she says, as not only have this year’s racers said they’ll be back, it’s also been added to the schedule for the North Okanagan Lawnmower Racing Club.
“The folks from Quesnel are very interested in seeing if we can’t have some sort of a joint circuit with a race there and a race here. So, we’ll see where this grows.”
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For her own lawnmower, she painted it orange.
“There were some that were looking like something you would recognize them in their backyard to some that had been modified into absolute road warrior machines.”
The winner of the final race, Negreiff, was presented with a six-year rotating trophy donated by Veronica and Ed Johnson, of Best Box Lunches in Lac la Hache. She also thanks Kaltire for all the tires they used to create the track, the District of 100 Mile House for a water truck (to keep the dust down) and New Age Entertainment for the use of their sound system.
“Get the news out there that this crazy granny started this little lawnmower racing association. [I’m] just so pleased to have seen it actually run.”
