Lily Plass
07 March 2025, 8:20 PM
With a little over a month to the annual races, the Lightning Ridge Race Club is looking for more helpers and committee members to join their club and keep the races kicking.Â
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The Lightning Ridge Race Club have gone public with their dilemma - that the lack of volunteers is jeopardising the show in the coming years.Â
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"Without the committee there are no races, and as of this year it'll be the last unless we have people show up," the committee said mid-February prior to a meeting on 1 March.Â
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The big day this year is 19 April, during the Easter weekend, and the committee is working full-time behind the scenes to make sure everything runs smoothly.Â
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The races are a big financial and social boost to the small outback town.Â
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Every year, around 1,500 people, many from out-of-town, attend the races.Â
Trackside the Lightning Ridge races are always a blast. Photo: Lightning Ridge Race Club.
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"If we didn't have the races, that's certainly a very huge hole in the Easter program in Lightning Ridge and for many local businesses," Secretary Angus Remond said.
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He added that any help, big or small, is appreciated.Â
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"There's so many jobs left to do, we are only able to get the bare essentials done."Â
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Mr Remond, who has been the secretary of the race club for the past seven years, said staffing issues have been ongoing for many years.Â
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"In 2019, we had a full committee change. None of the previous committee members stayed on because they all felt burnt out having to do everything themselves."Â
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The race club is also looking for people to help with set up, sponsorship liaison, social media management, bar work, and especially admin.Â
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"We would like to do more for our sponsors but anyone who's on the committee at the moment, we all have our own jobs or are running small businesses.
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Mr Remond said anyone, including people from out of town, can be valuable to the race operations.Â
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"Someone who's not local could help with administrative operations in the months leading up to the race.Â
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"Basically, everyone in the committee is a farmer and we're all flat out with jobs during the day.Â
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"Balancing administrative work with other jobs can be quite challenging."
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The committee said that people who are interested in helping the committee should meet on 17 and 18 April at the truck to discuss roles.