Getting on the track at Mildura Harness Racing Club meetings each week can mean up to an 11-hour round trip for Victoria’s harness racing drivers.
Up to 20 drivers travel from as far away as Melbourne, Adelaide and south-west Victoria for engagements at the club’s 40-plus meetings a year.
And a new five-year sponsorship deal between the harness racing club and McDonalds Mildura and Irymple will ease the travel burden just a little.
Mildura Harness Racing Club chief executive Michelle McGinty said the club depended entirely on the willingness of predominantly young drivers to make the trip.
“We have some of the most talented emerging drivers competing here at every meeting, so when McDonalds franchisee Leigh Colbert and I sat down to talk about getting a sponsorship deal in place, it seemed like a great opportunity to give a little back to those guys,” McGinty said.
“We came up with the 'home straight' coffee concept, which is basically coffee vouchers for each driver engaged at every meeting.
“The drivers usually carpool up and back for their own safety, but they always stop at the drive thru for food before they leave – so we’re making sure they’ve all got a coffee to help them to stay alert as they enter the home straight for the final stretch, being the safe trip home.”
McDonalds franchisee and former Kangaroos and Geelong AFL star Colbert said he was happy to add the 'home straight' vouchers as goodwill as part of a new and significant five-year sponsorship deal.
“I was more than happy to get on board as a sponsor, because it invests in the future of a sport I’ve watched and been connected to through family here in Mildura all my life,” Colbert said.
“We love to back the sports that make our community tick and sponsorships like this, and others we now have in place with a lot of local sporting clubs, show that.”
McGinty said adding McDonalds to the club’s stable of sponsors would introduce McDonalds branding to the 600-metre mark of the track and on the club’s water truck.
“It’s a great vote of confidence that as a high-profile sport that gets national coverage more than 40 nights a year, sponsors see there are some great benefits,” McGinty said.
“The sport is as strong here as it is anywhere in the State. Mildura Harness Racing is uniquely competitive because of the nature of our track, and that makes it a great training ground for young drivers.
“Our meetings are watched across the country and our sponsors get the benefit of that. But the show doesn’t go on unless these drivers who are prepared to do the miles to make it happen and it’s nice to be able to give a token of recognition of that.”