FARNHAM shoppers were 'ducking' the snow showers at this year's annual Easter duck race but, despite the inclement weather, organisers say the day was good fun all the same. Farnham Town Mayor Carole Cockburn launched the duck race day, organised by Farnham Weyside Rotary Club, at midday in Gostrey Meadows, while 500 residents looked on in hopeful anticipation. Malcolm Cooper, president of the Rotary Club of Farnham Weyside, said: "Sideshows, live music and other attractions were also available on the day. The negative contribution to the reduction of carbon emissions as a result of the drive into town by punters was more than offset by the use of water power for the race, in which no fossil fuels were consumed and there was no risk of broken limbs to horses or people, surely unique among sporting events? "Furthermore, it was safe for children, as the racing participants never spit or use 'fowl' language, despite being more than a little 'qwackers' "Rotarians have a sent a special message of thanks to Bernie Moss for all her efforts in organising the duck race and being duckmaster on the day." The Rotarian said: "It was appalling weather and takings were down around 50 per cent, but overall we did very well considering. I think we had snow at the start of the race and hail stones by the end. "We had sponsorship from Castles estate agents and we sold a lot of tickets prior to the day. Rotarians were given a higher allocation of tickets and did very well selling them to friends and families. It's difficult to tell yet but we estimate we raised around £5,900 on the day. "The money will be distributed evenly to the two charities supported by this year's president Malcolm Cooper: The RNLI and Sarah's Fund, which is a children's hospice in Uganda. "We would like to thank the shoppers of Farnham for their generosity and commend all the people who came on the day to take part in the event." Nick Casemoe had a good day at the races wih his duck coming in first in its heat and then winning the final race by a beak. He walked away with the grand prize of £250. The other 20 heat winners collected £20 each.
