Last weekend's goat race was part of the Island People Fete, a carnival which was held at Tropical Mansions. The Montserrat Running Club entered a goat, which we later named Ishwar. Ishwar, according to club president Tom Regan, has had a "good pre-season [...] and has only been pregnant twice over the spring, and has only been run over once". Perfect.
Seb, Aoife and I got down with good time to spare to dress up our goat - in running attire, of course.
Only the best kit for Ishwar.
Just before the pre-race pep talk.
Pink, blue & yellow - perfect colour combo.
And Ishwar certainly didn't fare too badly - a few false starts aside, he blazed through the heats and even managed to grab himself a coveted spot in the top three. Unfortunately, his desire for oats (offered at the finish line as an incentive to run) was probably not was strong as his opponents' desire to not end up in goat water, and he never made it beyond third place.
And of course, like every respectable race, bets were accepted for each goat before every race. However, I did manage to abstain from putting any money on a goat, given my sore lack of experience at attending such races. In hindsight, I probably should have attended the Oxford & Cambridge Goat Race this year. For the uninformed, this race is held every year as an anti-elitist alternative to the annual traditional river Thames boat race between Oxford and Cambridge. At least no class war protests marred the goat action!
Seb's last day in Montserrat.
Super goats in action.
In the end, Ishwar pulled a full Monty stunt - by the time of his last race, every single piece of clothing and accessory adorning him had come off, save for one sweatband around his rear right hoof. Guess he was getting himself ready for the goat water pot after all.
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