Popular racing administrator Michael Crowe has stepped down as president of the Gundagai Adelong Racing Club.
Over the past 12 years, Crowe led the famous club and their Snake Gully Cup carnival through bushfires, COVID-19, and flooding.
Still, he was always determined by the job and pushed on to help make the Snake Gully Cup and Hair of the Dog Cup two-day carnival one of Australia’s biggest country racing carnivals.
Citing that it was time to move on and allow some ‘fresh blood’ into the top job of one of the Southern Districts Racing Association’s biggest clubs, Crowe will make way for local businessman Jeremy Pearce, who steps up to the plate after waiting in the wings as vice president for the past few years,
“I’ll be stepping down with many good, fond memories from over the years,” Crowe said.
“I’ve met a lot of good people and had a good time, and I’m blessed to have had a wonderful and hard-working committee that has always supported me and everything I wanted to do.
“Being a good president requires a good committee, and I’ve had a lot of good people behind me over the years.”
While he admitted he had overseen significant challenges during his presidency, Crowe’s reign should be defined by his cool and calm handling of tough situations and the respect he has garnered within the racing industry.
“They’re all great memories, the whole lot of them,” Crowe said.
“There were some incredibly stressful times, such as dealing with the weather, which we can’t control, and even having a fire down the road for my first year, then COVID and the floods, but there were some really great moments.
“At the end of the day, it’s the people that make racing such a great game, and I’m very privileged to meet some terrific people along the way.”
Crowe was looking forward to the club’s future and backing Pearce to do a great job.
“Jeremy is definitely the man for the job,” Crowe said.
“He’s a really proactive guy, he runs a great business himself, and he’s got great backing from his lovely wife Renee, and I know that both of them together will do a wonderful job and can really take our club to the next level.”
Excited to take on the top job, Pearce was pleased to have Crowe in his corner as he prepared for his first Snake Gully Cup carnival, which kicks off on Friday.
“Mick’s done a fantastic job,” Pearce said.
“It’s one of those things, and he had to step down at one point, but he won’t be stepping away or anything like that.
“He’s still vice president, and he’s done most of the work for this Snake Gully Cup, and hopefully next year, as I learn more about the role, he’ll have a lot less to do.
“I am still more or less finding out what Mike has been up to in the role, and he’s been doing an awful lot himself, and as we get further into it, he’s handing jobs over to me but staying well involved.”
Pearce has been involved with Gundagai Adelong Racing Club for a long time.
Now, he’s ready to help the club continue its good work and, hopefully, usher in a new generation of committee members and racegoers.
“I’ve been involved now for 15 or 16 years as a committee member and four or five years as vice president,” Pearce said.
“I was honoured when asked to step up to President, and I’d like to work on a couple of things.
“Firstly, and my number one goal, is to continue the club’s success; Michelle (Makeham) and I will be working on things not going backwards and keeping the club going as strong as it has been.
“On from that, we’ve got an older committee that is really good and hard-working, but I’m big about getting some younger and more diverse people involved to help the current committee and the running of the club.
“We want to attract that younger generation to the races, and we’ll be able to do that if we can get some of the younger ones on the committee.
“Also, I’m from Yaven Creek, so I’d like to see more committee members from Adelong to help support the club and the town’s history with racing.”
Pearce will have the support of his wife, Renee Lindley, who is also the club’s fashions on the field coordinator, and new secretary Michelle Makeham, who has replaced retired Gundagai Adelong Racing Club stalwart Len Tozer.
Crowe said that Makeham has already proven to be an invaluable asset to the Gundagai Adelong Racing Club.
“Michelle is a wonderful person, a great smiling face, and someone that is willing to learn,” Crowe said.
“Michelle also has some great ideas regarding getting people back to the track and keeping them informed.
“She’s been really good at tying up a lot of loose ends, which we haven’t done before, and she will be proactive with the day-to-day running of the club, which these days, is a really big job with race clubs.”
It’s been a busy period for the Gundagai Adelong Racing Club, which is hard at work ahead of the Snake Gully Cup carnival.
The festivities kick-off on Thursday with the Snake Gully Ambrose golf event at Gundagai Services Golf Club, ahead of the Snake Gully Cup calcutta later that evening.
The $100,000 Snake Gully Cup (1400m) and $50,000 The Tuckerbox will be showcased at Friday’s meeting, while the $34,000 Hair of the Dog Cup (1800m) will be the feature event on Saturday.
Marquee packages were sold out months ago, but general admission tickets to both race days are still available.
2024/25 Gundagai Adelong Racing Club committee
President: Jeremy Pearce
Secretary: Michelle Makeham
Vice-presidents: Michael Crowe and Mark Elphick
Treasurer: TBA
