Lawnmower racing will make its debut at Te Puke A&P Show on February 11.
Lawnmower racing will make its debut at Te Puke A&P Show on February 11.
It's not just livestock and produce that will showcase the distract at this year's Te Puke A&P Show.
There will also be horsepower.
Engines and competition will feature in mower racing for the first time and the return of truck and tractor pulling competitions.
A&P Society secretary Kim Cawte sayswith horse riders committed to an event in Auckland the same weekend, she scouted around for a replacement for the endurocross that has featured at recent shows that would attract people.
"They have it at Omokoroa [Point School] and I thought it would be something that would pull in the crowds," she says. "It's new and it will be fun."
Mower racing organiser Roy Nielson, president of the Bay Waikato Mower Racing Club, says if mower racing is included in the show annually it will grow as it has at Omokoroa Point School.
"This year it won't be as big and we won't have as many mowers, but it will be a fun day for our members to do some racing and will be entertaining for the crowds," he says.
With far more power to wheels, truck and tractor racing will also be a feature of this year's show, returning after being absent last year.
"It's a biannual things and it's come around again this year," says A&P society vice president Roger Hintz.
"It's very popular. Two years ago it was very well supported by local contractors who brought their tractors along. There were also a few modifieds - tractors with big tyres and souped up engines, noise and smoke."
Roger says he anticipates the modified tractors will again be at this year's show.
He says the event of quite technical, with the weight of the sled being pulled altered for each vehicle.
Tractor pulling will be a feature of this year's Te Puke A&P Show.
Weight is added to or take from the sled using a formula based on a vehicle's power and weight to create, at least theoretically, a level playing field.
"They weigh them and put them on a dyno - it's all done properly and professionally," says Roger.
Roger says that as well as tractors " a few local guys put their trucks in".
The ground will be stripped to give a better surface for the contest.
"There's quite a bit of preparation involved - but it's a huge amount of fun."
Kim says there is so much happening at this year's show, including the hosting of the Bay of Plenty Young Fruitgrower Competition, that she isn't quite sure where everything will fit at the show grounds.
"The Young Fruitgrower of the Year will be taking up quite a lot of space - but it will bring kiwifruit people in so is another good drawcard," she says.
