Goats race the rink, revellers compete fashionably

By Sebidde Kiryowa and George Wabweyo
THE annual Royal Ascot Goat Race, the biggest event on our social calendar, went down spectacularly at Speke Resort Munyonyo this weekend.

We say spectacularly because folks actually took their time out to show up in droves. Normally, that would be nothing to write home about for the Goat Races, but seeing as most social public events have been total flops lately, you cannot take Ugandan revellers for granted anymore.

Like all previous goat race events, the occasion was more about fun than the goats and half the people who showed up had no idea what was actually going on the race track. But the goats did race and yes, for a charitable cause. Proceeds from this year’s event went to support Uganda Women’s Rugby.

Masters of Ceremonies were Sanyu FM’s Seanice Kacungira, Declan Peppard, Jerry Burley and Tom Adlam. Judges were NSSF boss, Richard Byarugaba and seasoned journalist, Andrew Mwenda, who showed up dressed like an Arab Sheikh.

There were also race stewards and recorders. There were 10 categories of races, each with a bounty waiting for the victorious party. Each of these races attracted corporate sponsorship ranging from sh2.5m to sh6m.

Unpredictable as the races were, the betting facility attracted punters, who staked money on the goats, perhaps, the criteria being the weirdness of the animal’s name.

There were goats named Chicken, Terrorist, Bad Black, Osama, Night Dancer, Bullet, Pissed and Kiprotich. At the end of it all, it was not Kiprotich, but Kandahar, owned by Delia & Camille who took the day and the prize of sh6m.

But the competition was not limited to the racing rink. There were also prizes for the best dressed couple, won by Cecilia and Greg Shaw; the best hat by Diana Nasuna; the best dressed man; the dressed lady; the best dressed child and best goat name were also rewarded.

The corporate sponsors tried to outdo themselves at entertaining their patrons and guests in their hospitality tents. Among the most coveted tents was the Vision Group tent which had XFM deejays spinning records and an open bar to boot.

Simba Casino and Kampala Casino also served up quite a feat for their guests. Bank tent as usual had the biggest number of guests. On the fun part, the weird hats, glitzy outfi ts, carefreeness and undiminishing appetites all came out.

Then there was the air-show that had everyone’s eyes glued to the skies as captain Howard Davenport of Kampala Aero Club did daredevil hoops and aerobatic manoeuvres that left us all dazed.

Long after the goats retired from the arena, the partying went full throttle as the Kigga Group did a host of traditional Haris International, the manufacturers of Riham products chose to do it differently.

They did not serve conventional food and drinks, they served their products— biscuits and juice and not just to their guests, but anyone who cared. The Crane tunes and acrobatics before a spectacular volley of fireworks lit up the sky.

The event should have offi cially ended at 7:45pm but it seemed there was no end to it as music from the deejay kept revellers dancing till late.