Karekare locals roll up their sleeves for Beach Races

With just 10 days to go until horses again thunder down Karekare’s black-sand beach, locals are rolling up their sleeves and getting down to it.

The tiny community – which has no hall, no store, and therefore no social hub – needs the race to go well to help keep the Surf Club and the local school running, and the races offer a great way for the otherwise scattered community to pull together.

And though some will no doubt stand back, most Karekare locals have put their backs into harness and donated time, or specialist skills, to make sure the day goes smoothly.

The Surf Club is fundraising to help keep the beach safe in this, its 80th year, and members are making final lists for the ingredients that will go into their famous sand burgers, and will fill their chilly bins to keep the crowds’ thirst at bay.

Mums, dads and kids are borrowing baking tins and hoarding flour and butter to ensure next week’s baking fills the school’s cake stall, counting off the bags of Allpress Coffee donated by the Piha store, sourcing the generators and plungers needed to keep those cups filled on the beach, and allocating the jobs that must be done before the big day. After all, the roof needs paying for, and it’ll take a lot of cakes – and plenty of the parents’ famous peanut sauce for its traditional pita pocket lunches – to pay for it.

Raffle prizes are being wrapped, a local musician is tightening his strings and making last-minute rehearsal plans – and Margot’s frantically running up the flags that will decorate the approach to the beach, and make one corner of the beach festival a veritable flag fiesta.

Meanwhile there’s more work behind the scenes. A Piha local is donating his expertise to get the sound system going. Another has a design business, and is putting the programme together. Local riders are arranging helmets for pony rides and hitching posts for racing entries, the MC is polishing his prose, and the family running the sweepstake betting are busy with their scissors cutting out the numbered papers folk will exchange for their $2 coins when the flag drops.

Drive to Karekare this weekend and you might almost hear the hum of industry, above the whisper of crossing fingers. The race can only go ahead if the weather’s fine, but even then there could be a hiccup… Last race day a power cut killed ovens mid-bake and mums had to ferry tins to friends across the Waitakeres, then ferry the hot cakes back to the beach before spectators could arrive.

Talk about going the extra mile. But that’s Karekare’s community energy for you, and it’s an energy that will again ensure a fantastic fun family day at the Races come February 28. The hat contest opens the event at 10.30, with racing from 11. See you there!

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