As a boy Jonathan Crowe looked on with delight as a succession of colourful billy carts barreled down Port Kembla’s Wentworth Street.
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Now a father to three boys, he looks forward to giving his children the same experience, at the industrial suburb’s revived billy cart derby.
“From a very early age mum and dad used to bring me down here when it was part of the Pull Into Port Festival and they had 10,000 people in the streets,” said Mr Crowe, at the launch, on Saturday, of the 2017 derby.
“It’s great that it’s been resurrected. We’re going to have our family down and a few other friends and we’re going to make a day of it.”
Mr Crowe, a former professional iron man and a Port Kembla resident, will serve as an ambassador for the May 27 derby – the fifth to be held on Wentworth Street since 2012, when the event returned from a 25-year-hiatus.
Like many in Port Kembla, Mr Crowe looks to the derby as both a nostalgic treasure and a sign of Port’s promising future.
“The area used to have a bad reputation and now that’s changed,” he said.
“Wentworth Street is a lot different to what it was 20 years ago, but a lot of people don’t realise that and don’t come here, so hopefully [the derby] serves to raise the profile of the area and makes people aware of how great this location . Hopefully it will mean more people and more businesses in the area and we can see some activation happening.”
This year’s derby will incorporate the Australian All American Soap Box National Championships, which serves as a qualifying event for the world championships in Ohio, USA.
The event within the event is expected to draw competitive racers aged between seven and 21 from throughout Australia, said event coordinator Jessica Gnata.
“If they want to get into the world championships, they have to come to Port Kembla to qualify," she said.
”The goal is to eventually have every school in the Illawarra competing.”
In the supercarts division, Mt Keira’s Stephen Hope will be modifying his cart, Supersonic, in a bid for billy carting gold.
Supersonic came second to Sniper in the 2015 derby.
“It probably got close to 80kmh, but when you’re close to the ground it feels quicker,” Mr Hope said, recalling his 2015 dash down Wentworth Street.
“We’ll change up a couple of things, make a few modifications. Game on.”
Derby day is Saturday, May 27. Click here for more details.