Be there next year
Aug 31, 2008
GOATS racing! Although it still remains a hugely bizarre concept to many, the Royal Ascot Goat Races which is held annually has over the years garnered the status of the must-be-at event on Uganda’s social calendar.
By Carol Kezaabu
GOATS racing! Although it still remains a hugely bizarre concept to many, the Royal Ascot Goat Races which is held annually has over the years garnered the status of the must-be-at event on Uganda’s social calendar.
And on Saturday, all roads led to Speke Resort Munyonyo as Kampala’s socialites, corporates, campusers, business moguls, Muvabulaya, tourists and children made a beeline to the lakeside charity do.
The gates opened at 12.00pm and the place was quickly flooded by throngs of people all hoping to get a piece of the action. The four emcees of the day; Declan Peppard, Crystal Newman, Gaetano and Sanjiv Patel took control and the first race kicked off at 1.30pm.
As we have come to expect, the goats had interesting names like Load Shedding which was recognised as the best-named goat; others were Maribu Stork, Wadanga, Kiwani, Pili Pili, Risk Assessment and Kebab.
There were eight races with ten goats competing in each race and the winning purses ranging from sh2.5m to sh6m. Between the races came jaw-dropping performances by the Infinity dancers and the Russian dancers.
The different companies and organisations sponsoring the races hosted their invited guests to sumptuous buffets, a constant flow of booze and live entertainment in their tents.
With kanyamas (bouncers) standing guard at the entrances to the tents, some of the uninvited guests went to great lengths to get into the tents.
But neither did the guests disappoint when it came down to the fashion. Shorts were this year’s hot fashion item at the races.
A Caucasian couple (Genevieve and Adam) won two return tickets to Zanzibar as the best dressed couple; Simon Baba was the best dressed man and Leila Motisi, the best dressed lady.
Both won two nights to designated luxury spots in Uganda. Other prizes were for best hat, best dressed child and a raffle draw where two people won return tickets to Europe and Dubai.
The day’s events came to a close with a splendid display of fireworks at 7.00pm.
If you missed out on this action, be there next year.
GOATS racing! Although it still remains a hugely bizarre concept to many, the Royal Ascot Goat Races which is held annually has over the years garnered the status of the must-be-at event on Uganda’s social calendar.
And on Saturday, all roads led to Speke Resort Munyonyo as Kampala’s socialites, corporates, campusers, business moguls, Muvabulaya, tourists and children made a beeline to the lakeside charity do.
The gates opened at 12.00pm and the place was quickly flooded by throngs of people all hoping to get a piece of the action. The four emcees of the day; Declan Peppard, Crystal Newman, Gaetano and Sanjiv Patel took control and the first race kicked off at 1.30pm.
As we have come to expect, the goats had interesting names like Load Shedding which was recognised as the best-named goat; others were Maribu Stork, Wadanga, Kiwani, Pili Pili, Risk Assessment and Kebab.
There were eight races with ten goats competing in each race and the winning purses ranging from sh2.5m to sh6m. Between the races came jaw-dropping performances by the Infinity dancers and the Russian dancers.
The different companies and organisations sponsoring the races hosted their invited guests to sumptuous buffets, a constant flow of booze and live entertainment in their tents.
With kanyamas (bouncers) standing guard at the entrances to the tents, some of the uninvited guests went to great lengths to get into the tents.
But neither did the guests disappoint when it came down to the fashion. Shorts were this year’s hot fashion item at the races.
A Caucasian couple (Genevieve and Adam) won two return tickets to Zanzibar as the best dressed couple; Simon Baba was the best dressed man and Leila Motisi, the best dressed lady.
Both won two nights to designated luxury spots in Uganda. Other prizes were for best hat, best dressed child and a raffle draw where two people won return tickets to Europe and Dubai.
The day’s events came to a close with a splendid display of fireworks at 7.00pm.
If you missed out on this action, be there next year.