STAWELL - Stawell Racing Club is celebrating success at the Centrebet Country Racing Victoria awards ceremony in Melbourne.
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The club was successful in taking out the 'Camp Australia Best New Event Concept' for the 2013 Stawell Gold Cup with their submission for the Stawell Easter Sunday Kids Eggstravaganza.
The club won a $10,000 marketing grant and Country Racing Victoria assistance in bringing the event to life. Stawell Racing Club Operations Manager Penny Penfold accepted the award on behalf of the club at country racing's night of nights at the Melbourne Convention Centre.
Country Racing Victoria encourages clubs to submit marketing plans for a new event concept that can develop and grow for the club in years to come. The award is judged on a set of criteria including theming, community engagement and tourism opportunities.
Stawell Racing Club came up with the idea of a 'Stawell Easter Sunday Kids Eggstravaganza' which is a child driven event concept that is all about fun, family and a great day out at the races. The theme would focus on three key elements - an 'oversized egg and spoon race', a kid's music act (of a similar style to the Wiggles or Hi-5) and a kids entertainment and safe zone.
"The 'oversized egg and spoon race' is a bit of fun for the kids and is all about involving them in the raceday experience," Ms Penfold said.
Spoons would be of similar size to that of a tennis racket/cricket bat and eggs would be similar size to a football.
Each child under 12 years of age, upon entry to the racecourse, will receive a chocolate Easter egg from the Easter Bunny that will also have a numbered golden ticket attached to it.
Children and parents will be asked to retain their tickets until the lucky draw takes place. The Easter Bunny will draw numbers from his chocolate pot and in turn determine the runners in the 'oversized egg and spoon race'.
The concept will involve the running of four heats, with the first two across the line in each heat with their egg still on their spoon going through to the final. The final will run with eight starters all wearing Stawell coloured silks and the winner and runner up will receive a prize.
The club will also offer consolation prizes to all runners.
The TAC Neville Wilson Medal for Victoria's leading jockey was taken out by the reigning winner Dean Yendall, who rode 749 races on country racetracks this season and netted 128 winners. Dean's consistency has continued on from last year when he won the Neville Wilson Medal for the second time with 125 wins. In total, Dean has had over 1000 metro and country rides for the season with a great strike rate of 14% which placed him third overall for the most winners in the state. Dean also rode 14 city winners for the season.
The George Hanlon Medal for the state's leading country trainer was nabbed again by Ballarat's Darren Weir - his eighth straight win - having trained 140 winners during the season.