So I Married a Camel Jockey − 15 July, 2000
We're barely in Australia a month and my wife is racing camels.
It turns out that there is an annual event in Alice Springs called the Camel Cup. Local camel farms bring a bunch of their camels in to town and there are a number of races. Various people serve as jockeys: individuals, camel farm employees, and teams from local businesses. Alice Springs is a bit remote, so some of the things people do for entertainment around here are just nuts.
Every year the base pulls together a team of volunteers to race camels. My wife was the first one with her hand in the air. Which didn't surprise me in the least.
Don't let me give the impression that they'll just toss anyone on a camel, slap its ass, and tell them to hold on. The team from the base went out to the sponsoring camel farm for a couple of familiarization and training sessions. I don't know that I would call it extensive, quality training... but it was enough to keep the jockeys from killing themselves or the camels.
The day of the races I hung out at the track with some friends as my wife raced in several heats. It was with a mixture of pride, fear, and utter bewilderment that I watched my wife race around the track on that big fucking camel. She didn't place, which is surprising because she's one of the few that managed to stay on their camels through the entire race. She came away from the races without scratch, while other jockeys were sporting sprains or cracked ribs.
The camels fared a bit better, though one camel (I think it was Kumar) couldn't race since another camel went and bit it on the willie. Yeah, I think that would put anyone out of commission for a while.
It turns out that there is an annual event in Alice Springs called the Camel Cup. Local camel farms bring a bunch of their camels in to town and there are a number of races. Various people serve as jockeys: individuals, camel farm employees, and teams from local businesses. Alice Springs is a bit remote, so some of the things people do for entertainment around here are just nuts.
Every year the base pulls together a team of volunteers to race camels. My wife was the first one with her hand in the air. Which didn't surprise me in the least.
Don't let me give the impression that they'll just toss anyone on a camel, slap its ass, and tell them to hold on. The team from the base went out to the sponsoring camel farm for a couple of familiarization and training sessions. I don't know that I would call it extensive, quality training... but it was enough to keep the jockeys from killing themselves or the camels.
The day of the races I hung out at the track with some friends as my wife raced in several heats. It was with a mixture of pride, fear, and utter bewilderment that I watched my wife race around the track on that big fucking camel. She didn't place, which is surprising because she's one of the few that managed to stay on their camels through the entire race. She came away from the races without scratch, while other jockeys were sporting sprains or cracked ribs.
The camels fared a bit better, though one camel (I think it was Kumar) couldn't race since another camel went and bit it on the willie. Yeah, I think that would put anyone out of commission for a while.
camel cup program
base camel jockeys
my wife the camel jockey
wife racing
in the lead for a while
