Two months out from race day, Lightning Ridge saw unprecedented flooding that swallowed the local race course, leaving the upcoming annual picnic races hanging in the balance.

A month later, volunteer efforts from across the town have brought the race track back to life. 

On 29 January, some residents of Lightning Ridge received 150 mm of rain in just two hours, which left flooded houses and impassable roads. 

“I went down a couple of days later, and the finish line was still underwater,” Lightning Ridge Race Club president Charlie Powell said. 

“It was pretty extensive damage but we’ve got some good volunteers giving up their time.”

Mr Powell recently appealed to Walgett Shire Council for some funds to reimburse volunteers for fuel, sand, and wear on their heavy machinery, conscious of the expenses that locals were incurring to help out. 

Track upgrades from 2017. (Lightning Ridge Race Club)

“It’s fine with someone to volunteer their time, but it’s a bit hard when you ask someone to spend $3,000 worth of fuel as well as volunteering their time…I’m not particularly comfortable with that.”

In the recent meeting, Council opted to authorise the general manager to negotiate an amount up to $10,000 to assist.

“With the state of country racing at the moment…there’s no guarantee that even if we fix the track, they’ll be able to run,” one Councillor said. 

While Mr Powell said that he shares the same fears of last minute cancellation that every country racing committee does, following a recent trend of race tracks being deemed unsafe to race, a recent meeting with Racing NSW was promising. 

“They came and told us exactly what they thought was needed, so we ended up making a few modifications,” Mr Powell said.

“Racing NSW is pretty happy with our progress. We’ve still got a bit of time up our sleeve…but I think it’s going to go on.”

“Even if we do have 150mm, it’ll be ok as long as it’s over four days, not four hours.”

This year also marks a change for the Easter weekend races, with race events going into the evening. 

“I think this is probably the most exciting Easter races that we’ve ever held. It’ll be 11 hours of races, activities, jumping castles, food for the entire races, and the bar is stocked and ready to go.”

The races will be held Saturday 30 March.