LIAM PHILLIPS
THE Gawler Greyhound Racing
Club is set to celebrate its 50-year
anniversary this weekend, culminating
in the running of the Anniversary
Cup on Sunday on a bumper card
which also features the final of the
Gawler Produce Series.
It took years to get the Gawler
track off the ground after the idea
was first floated by half a dozen
men from the SA Greyhound Racing
Club in 1967 to hold race meetings
at Gawler Oval.
Original funding was raised by
the six founders of the club, with
a $25,000 loan from the TAB and
surprisingly a $10,000 loan from
the NSW Greyhound Breeders,
Trainers and Owners Association.
8000 patrons attended the first
meeting, making it the largest crowd
to ever attend a South Australian
greyhound meeting at the time.
Since then, the SA Greyhound
Racing Club became the Gawler
Greyhound Racing Club, and has
gone from holding one race meeting
per fortnight to now holding two
per week.
Opportunities to trial were limited
and not welcomed by some councillors,
and original facilities didn’t allow
for the range of catering, public
comfort and function facilities now
available.
The biggest change in recent
years came with the construction of
the Nixon Function Centre in February,
2015, which club secretary
Bob May said has ushered in a new
era of the Gawler Greyhound Racing
Club.
“Not only was it a great for participants,
but it enabled the club
to attract the public and provide a
facility for widespread community
promotion and use,” he said.
“The Gawler Greyhound Racing
Club is now a hub for the major
population of SA greyhounds
and trainers, based in the Lewiston,
Two Wells and Barossa areas,
and as such has always attracted a
strong following.
“Gawler has always been the
number two ranked track in SA,
originally being ranked as the only
‘Provincial’ track, and it offers a
‘close up’ experience which is popular
with the public.
“The Town of Gawler is also well
known nationally for its racing participation
and interest in all racing
codes, and so has always been supported.”
Throughout the years, the Gawler
Greyhound Racing Club has been
an active member of the local community,
and can boast the first greyhound
race ever broadcast on South
Australian television with its special
charity Telethon race meeting
run with Channel Nine in December
of 1971.
The club has since continued to
work with local organisations, particularly
the Gawler Show Society
and Gawler Central Sports Club, as
well as hosting many charity functions.
A pillar of the community, the
Gawler branch of Rotary conduct
their weekly meetings at the Gawler
Greyhound Racing Club, while the
club also regularly hosts clients of
SCOSA for meals on race days, and
offers special lunches for retirees on
race days.
The track record times have remained
untouched for nearly six
years now, with Avid Tyson setting
the 400m record in 2014, It’s Classified
matching Regional Image’s
2003 531m record in 2015, and
Bothing is approaching 15 years
since setting its 643m record of
36.81 seconds in August of 2006.
An incredibly talented group of
greyhounds will be trying to break
those records on Sunday, so if you
are interested in attending, book
ahead with the club by calling 8522
2935.