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Bob Champion to start Mascot Gold Cup for Sue Ryder
13 April 2010
Sue Ryder is gearing up to celebrate an important milestone on 25 April with the fifth annual running of the Mascot Gold Cup, held as always at Wetherby Races family day.
Mascots such as crowd favourites Lamby and Beefy will be put under starters orders by Grand National winning jockey Bob Champion MBE who is the special guest starter of this bizarre spectacle.
In the Mascot Gold Cup’s four year history it has grown to be one of the two largest such events in the world and has raised over £60,000 for a variety of good causes. The majority of these funds have benefited national healthcare charity Sue Ryder who co-organise the event along with the Yorkshire Federation of Young Farmers Clubs.
Bob Champion who won the world’s most famous horse race on Aldaniti in 1981 is set to start the Mascot Gold Cup at Wetherby where he is present as part of his 60/60 challenge which sees him visiting 60 race courses in 60 days to raise funds for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust.
Two of the mascots that Champion will put under starters orders are Lamby and Beefy who have double reason to celebrate. Aside from participating in their fifth mascot race at Wetherby the two who were formally used to promote English Beef and Lamb are also celebrating a new lease of life in Yorkshire. After been axed from the English Beef and Lamb Executive marketing campaigns, the Lamby and Beefy costumes were all set for the chop themselves recently. This was until an eleventh hour request for a reprieve in light of their fundraising pedigree was successful. Eblex with the permission of Alan Lamb and Sir Ian Botham have donated the costumes to Sue Ryder and Yorkshire Young Farmers to use to promote and take part in the event.
Sue Ryder Fundraiser Andrew Wood who co-ordinates the event is upbeat about this years event. He said “Since extensive TV coverage of the 2009 Mascot Gold Cup there has been great interest and we have been lucky to retain Foresters as our main sponsor, and the National Market Traders Federation as our theme sponsor.”
After being judged in a best turned out competition the field of mascots will be positioned in a handicap start which takes account of how large and cumbersome the mascots are. Then fur flies as the race starts and the mascots sprint 220 yards and leap or stumble over the hurdles to the delight of the packed race day crowd.
Andrew Wood added. “This is a great day out and as always we are looking for mascots from all walks of life to enter this great event which helps Sue Ryder to provide over four million hours of care for people throughout the UK.”
For more information, entry forms and footage of previous races go to www.mascotgoldcup.org.uk
For More information contact Andrew Wood on 01535 640432 or email andrew.wood@sueryder.org
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