This year was Macraes Moonlight farmer Tom McCone's "sixth or seventh" time racing his Greenfield ride-on lawnmower in the Angus McCutcheon memorial lawnmower race at Strath Taieri's A&P Show on Sunday and he snaffled the win easily.
The mower, which no longer has any grass cutting facilities, was purchased from Timaru by Mr McCone and fellow Macraes farmer Kent Tisdall with full intentions to "pimp it up" with a 250cc Kawasaki motor to take part in the annual competition.
The duo has enjoyed tinkering with the machine over the years to improve its throttle capabilities and Mr McCone said not a lot needed to be done this year to prepare it for its one big day of the year but "working on the mower" was good code for enjoying a quiet beverage on a warm summer's evening.
The mower had reached a top speed of about 50kmh in an "undisclosed location" in the lead up to the race and Mr McCone said he had not had any incidents . . . ``not yet anyway''.
Sunday's race was hotly contested and three other extremely fast mowers were entered in the race but Mr McCone's race experience and superior handling skills secured the win in the end.
Show secretary Michelle Tisdall said it was the biggest crowd the event had seen in a long time.
"We changed the date this year so people could make the most of a long weekend here in Middlemarch."
"Relieved and exhausted," she said.
- By Alice Scott
