Northern Territory pub holds crocodile race to celebrate Melbourne Cup

ABC NEWS (Australia)

While the Melbourne Cup may be the race that stops the nation a local tavern south of Darwin also comes to life. Cup day sees the annual crocodile race at berry springs pitting baby crocs against each other in a race like no other.

Transcript

00:00 It's about as far from Flemington as you can get, but the competitors here today at

00:05 Barry Springs are just as hungry for a big win.

00:08 If there was an event to pull a crowd it would be the croc racing.

00:12 It's now in its eighth year, the race having originally been conceived over one too many

00:16 schooners by the owners of the tavern.

00:18 We thought what could we do to make Melbourne Cup a bit more exciting and we have the crocodile

00:21 on the roof and we've got the five metre crocodile on the back car park so it just seemed to

00:25 be like the natural progression to race crocodiles on Melbourne Cup day, why wouldn't you?

00:29 Six crocs from across the top end have been brought in to take on the 28 metre race course

00:34 with only one rule, no death rolls.

00:37 All the crocs have been supplied by a local Darwin wildlife park with handlers nearby

00:41 to make sure the croc safety is paramount.

00:44 We've got the van which is all air conditioned so if they do get a bit hot they can go in

00:48 there and if they do notice they're getting a bit stressed out we've got the two tubs

00:51 they can go in a nice dark safe place where they feel comfortable in the dark tubs away

00:56 from the people, away from sound.

00:58 In true territory style the race is just for bragging rights but for the winning croc it's

01:03 back to the chomping ground to train for next year.

01:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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