‘Tickets went in two hours’: Gascoyne Junction race day a sellout

The phone lines, the ticket machines, the booking clerks and the whatever, were closed within two hours of opening. Such was the attraction of the annual (Gascoyne) Junction race meeting and gymkhana. So if you wanted to be there on September 5 and 6, forget it. It’s booked out ... so start planning for next year. “We had to cap the crowd (social distancing) at 700 and the tickets went in two hours,” Nadene Collins, secretary of the Gascoyne Junction Race Club, said. “We just couldn’t handle 2000 people ... but we could have got them.” And as popular as the six-card race meeting and the gymkhana is, the most popular event is the Gascoyne Junction dog race. “It creates chaos, it’s madness, but it’s great,” Collins said. “It’s probably over 200m, the dogs line up with handlers holding them, owners at the other end calling out like mad. The winner is the owner who is first to pick up his dog when he or she crosses the line. “The owner takes home the trophy for a year and brings it back the next year.” Collins, who grew up at “the Junction”, 170km east of Carnarvon, is as proud of the Gascoyne town as all its 60-odd residents are. “Ten years ago, we were taken out by floods, but we’ve got a new pub and tourist park. It’s all go up here,” Collins said. But if you missed out on a ticket, you’ll have to wait 12 months to see if you agree with her.