Sark sheep racing draws boatloads of visitors

Adding to the comedy were two events squeezed in between the official races that involved two teams of visitors, kitted out as sheep and jockeys.

They had approached the organisers in advance to ask if they could use the course and after permission from the field’s owner there were two ‘sheep-back’ races to entertain the crowds.

Their races went down a storm: ‘I thought I was going to die laughing,’ said carnival organising committee member Victoria Stamps.

The main events saw the tote kept busy as people had a flutter on the flock of runners, and Ms Stamps said this proved as popular as ever.

Reports from the front gate suggested numbers on a par with previous years, but she said the bar was not as busy and she put this down to the committee deciding to not offer draught beer this time. ‘Because of problems with coolers in the past we made the conscious decision this time to use cans and bottles,’ she said.

Another first was the bar taking card payments, and this coupled with the efficiency of not having to draw pints made it operate much more smoothly.

Rather than use plastic cups people were offered the chance to buy souvenir re-usable eco-cups bearing the cartoon logo of the event, and Ms Stamps said these proved so popular that she had received requests for them from people outside the island who were unable to attend.

The atmosphere throughout the day was one of people out to enjoy themselves and Ms Stamps said there were no reports of any trouble, unlike a couple of incidents at the last event in 2019.

Away from the course the traditional Miss Sark Princess and Miss Sark Visitor competitions took place and Saturday evening saw the second performance of the weekend by City Limits.

Behind all the fun was the serious goal of raising funds for the island’s Professor Saint Sark Medical Trust, which is used to subsidise islanders’ prescription charges.

n Next weekend Sark plays host to the 2021 Fete Des Betes, a one-day music event held at La Seigneurie.