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A hedgehog held his own to outsprint a Zebra and fifty five other cuddly characters in the
Mascot Gold Cup at Wetherby Races family day on Sunday. The race was, as always a huge
hit with the race day crowd and raised approximately £15,000 for charity with the lions share
going to national healthcare charity, Sue Ryder who organise the event.
Eddie the Edgehoge of Aldley Edge Hockey Club in Cheshire was making his debut in the
race but found the one furlong trip over 6 fences to his liking. However Zack the Zebra of road
safety charity BRAKE also shone in the Wetherby sun and it took an official photo finish to
prove that Eddie had indeed won by a short spike. Sheffield Wednesday’s Ozzie the Owl
was third and also took the prize for being the first professional mascot home. The prize for
being last home without stopping went to Sue the Sausage representing Sue Ryder retail.
Beefy managed to avoid fallers the eleven fallers to be placed fourth. Prizes were presented
by Carol Smith from Foresters, Jean Daniel of Yorkshire Young Farmers, Matthew Binns of
Sue Ryder and Julian Lewis of the National Market Traders Federation.
Full results and a link to photos and footage of the race can be found on the event’s official
website www.mascotgoldcup.org.uk.
Prior to the race, the traditional Mascot Parade was held where a panel of judges elected
‘Eddie the Edgehog’ best mascot in parade making it him the first mascot in the race’s history
to take both the top awards. ‘Cliffe the Castle’ from Keighley Town Centre Association was
placed second in this class.
The best mascot made on the chosen race theme of ‘From Small Stalls Grow Big Stores’ as
sponsored by the National Market Traders Federation was ‘Pete the Marsh top Meat Pork
Chop’ from created and worn by Dave Johnson of Worth Valley Young Farmers Club. This
mascot will now run in the inaugural Scottish Mascot Gold Cup at Musselbrough on 24th April.
Awards were also presented for the mascot that had raised most money in for Sue Ryder who
was ‘Lamby’ representing Keelham Farm Shop, Queensbury who had raised in the region of
£1,000. In total it is estimated that £10,000 was raised for Sue Ryder and a further £3,000 for
other good causes. All Mascots were thanked by Sue Ryder Fundraiser Andrew Wood who
explained how he was delighted with the race and the amount it had raised. “Mascots have
now raised over £75,000 in the five years that the race has been run and we are very lucky
that the majority of this has come to Sue Ryder to help us to fund our crucial care in hospices
and neurological care centres throughout the country. We need to raise over £4 million
each year just to provide our services in Yorkshire alone so events such as this which raise
both funds and our profile are very important to us. A huge thank you is due to the team at
Wetherby Racecourse and Conference Centre, all the mascots, our sponsors and everyone
who volunteers their time for this event.”
Hundreds of photographs of the day will shortly be available for viewing at the Sue Ryder
Manorlands hospice facebook page. A link will also be placed on there to the You tube
footage of the race.
A DVD of the event is in production and will shortly be available to order for a cost of £6. For
more information or to register an interest for the 2011 Mascot Gold Cup contact Andrew
A hedgehog held his own to out sprint a Zebra and fifty five other cuddly characters in the Mascot Gold Cup at Wetherby Races family day on Sunday. The race was, as always a huge hit with the race day crowd and raised approximately £15,000 for charity with the lions share going to national healthcare charity, Sue Ryder who organise the event.
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