The Race That Stops a Nation

Pin and win!

When I was staying in Sydney, all I know about Melbourne Cup was it is a big race event, and work organise sweeps, nibbles and drinks were provided to watch this horse racing event that probably goes for just a couple of minutes, followed by chats and probably early day off work.

When was I going to move from Sydney to Melbourne, Melbourne Cup Day is the answer to Sydney's Bank Holiday to me. So I did not lose out on number of public holidays which is already low in days in Australia. (I know, I know, it's sad but.. got to rake it if I can)

Now that I am in Melbourne I realised there's more race days to just Melbourne Cup Day. Melbourne Cup Day is held on the first Tuesday of November, at 3pm. According to the official website, the Cup was first run on a Thursday in 1875 but changed to a Tuesday later on and has normally been run on the first Tuesday in November each year. (So there is no out of ordinary story there... and despite it would've been even more awesome if it's on a Monday, so it is a long weekend but a public holiday is better than none :P)

The race on Saturday before Melbourne Cup Day is called Victoria Derby Day, the Thursday after Melbourne Cup day is the Oaks Day and Saturday after is call Stakes Day. However only Melbourne Cup Day is the public holiday, and only around within metropolitan Melbourne and some parts other parts but not the whole Victoria. As for Bank Holiday above, it is only for those who works in banks and financial institutions.

So yes, if I am a full time blogger or being paid for this, I have failed miserably as the Cup day was held on 5th of November this year. Back to my story, one fine day Little P's company sent out an email on volunteering on race days as part of community service day. We decided to participate, both to do some community service and see what's this Melbourne Cup is about.

Pin & Win is the major annual fundraising activity conducted by the Victoria Racing Club as part of the Melbourne Cup Community Program. The volunteering work that we took part in was as a pin seller in Melbourne Cup Day in Flemington Racecourse. This year's official charity partner was SecondBite. In short, SecondBite is a charity organisation which identifies and collects surplus fresh food and distributes them to people in need.

Our shift starts at 8am in the morning and finishes at 2.30 pm. The good news was it was brilliant weather, the bad news was it was cooking hot by noon-ish despite low temperature in the morning and we were wearing a jumper on top on formal wear. On top on the jumper, we each sling a bag to keep extra pins for refill and water bottle, a small bag for our own things and an apron to keep money. Will all these 'top ups', it was a little tricky to take off the jumper in a sea of people.

We were in the middle of action at 2.30pm, with the horses getting to ready to start the race. Not by choice, but just that we were very close to the racing ground at that time.

Oh, and by the way if you have watched Pretty Woman before and remember parts of it, people do dress up for horse racing event. It is by no means cheap - women in their best dresses and fascinators while men in suits.

Oh and about that phrase, "The race that stops a nation?" It was promoted or marketed as that, which is true - a public holiday on some areas, at other areas or states, people do stop for a couple of minutes to watch the race.


Side note: Where has all the time gone?