Not only do we provide the prizes, valued at about $1,500, but we also have to judge the competition. So a few of us made a weekend of it, with some coming from Canberra, others from their holiday homes on the coast, and others who were just holidaying near Moruya.
We met up at a motel on the outskirts of Moruya on Sunday afternoon. The Narooma Cup was run on the Monday, but there was a Calcutta run at Club Narooma on the Sunday evening before, so we travelled the hour or so to Narooma on a bus that was taking folks down from Moruya. We felt immediately at home because of the champagne and beer that was served on the way.
Before the Calcutta, we had dinner at Lynch's Hotel at Narooma. A few of you might remember the place like this:
After dinner we walked down the hill to Club Narooma. Formerly known as the Bowling Club. This was where the Calcutta for the Narooma Cup took place. Dave and Les pooled their pocket-money and successfully bid on two horses.
On Monday morning we caught a local coach to the Moruya track. We were there pretty early, but as the morning progressed a large number of people arrived. It is the Moruya Jockey Club's biggest day of the year. The day was pretty warm and humid, but the breeze made it pleasant out of the sun. Attire, as one expects from a country race meeting, ranged from stubbies and thongs (for the men) to hats and gloves (for the women). This meant, at least, that no-one felt out of place.
We had a table reserved undercover between the betting ring and the take-away building, and we were served a great lunch of salads, beef, chicken, and prawns. And of course lots of bubbles to drink. Surprisingly, the TAB caravan that followed us home from the Cooma Cup was parked immediately in front of us - they must have known we were coming. At least we didn't have to go far to lose our money.
A large slice of our attention was on the Fashions on the Field competition. Firstly there was a short-listing process at the back of the stands so the judges could narrow down the competitors to 10 each for the children's, men's, and women's competitions. Following that, the main judging took place later in the afternoon.
Following the judging was the running of the Narooma Cup. Unfortunately for Les and Dave, their horses didn't win, so the $4000 Calcutta prize eluded them this year. Maybe next year they'll be luckier.
Pictures from the day are below. If you are using an iPad then unfortunately you won't be able to see this as the iPad browser seems not to support slideshows in blogs. I haven't yet found a way around this.