The Hawea Picnic Racing Club will return next month after a year’s hiatus - with one small change to previous years: the date.

The Hāwea Picnic Races have been held on December 28 almost every year since 1946, making the event one of the oldest race meetings in the country. 

The racing club committee was “devastated” to cancel the race event last year due to dwindling entries from the racing industry, especially given race day had only been cancelled a couple of times in its history: once for wild weather and once for the Covid-19 pandemic.

But a date change this year, proposed by the racing industry, means the event can go ahead.

Hāwea Picnic Racing Club president Warren Hewson told the Wānaka App the horse trainers missed the day as much as everyone else did, telling the committee: “we want to keep it going”.

“It’s sort of a training day for the up-and-coming horses,” he said. 

“The trainers came up with the idea of changing the day to the 30th.”

The picnic races are a fun combination of pony gymkhana events (jumping, pole bending), family fun sports races (sack races, lolly scramble, tug-of-war), and equalisator horse racing (harness racing, a locals’ hack race, human runner vs horse).

An egg throwing competition at the 2023 races.

“It’s a good community day out,” Warren said.

The Hāwea Picnic Races will take place on Tuesday December 30 at the Hāwea Domain, with the first race at 12 noon.

All profits from the event are distributed back into the Hāwea community.

PHOTOS: Wānaka App

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