Uphill battle

HUGE WORKLOAD: South Eastern Automobile Club members have spent countless hours preparing for the Legend of the Lakes hill climb event, which kicks off today at the Valley Lakes.

By Trevor Jackson

AFTER a strange year due to the covid-19 pandemic and doubts over the chance to hold its showcase event, the South Eastern Automobile Club has everything in place for the 15th running of the Legend of the Lakes hill climb.

The event kicks off today at the Valley Lakes precinct with club drivers, rides and historic machinery, before the main runs of the weekend begin tomorrow and run through until the top-10 shootout on Sunday afternoon.

Spectators have been limited this year to just a couple of hundred at the top of the course but will not be charged to go along and have a look.

Big-screen televisions will provide views of the track and with a near-capacity field there will be no shortage of action.

Despite Victorian competitors unable to attend, the “Legend“ still boasts 77 competitors for today, with 132 pencilled in for the remainder of the weekend.

It is just a dozen short of the usual 145 entries, which race director Kevin Raedel said was pleasing for the club.

“Friday fields have blown us away,” he said.

“In such a trying year to get the biggest field ever, to have it booked out for the first time ever Friday is pretty special.

“We have 132 starters for the weekend which is also good.

“We normally have in the high 130s.

“It makes all the hard work worthwhile to see such a good response and have so much support for the event.”

Raedel said while spectators were only allowed at the top of the course, he hoped to see as many as possibly come along over the course of the weekend.

“There is no charge to come in the gate and I know you won’t see as much as previous years but it is still something to do,” he said.

“We know people haven’t done a lot for a long time so we want people to come out and enjoy it and be happy.

“I get a buzz out of seeing people happy and after such a strange year to see everyone enjoying themselves at such an iconic location will be good.”

There was doubt over the viability of the event or if restrictions would even allow it to go ahead.

Raedel said that was an issue for the club but the work simply went on in the background to ensure once the all-clear was given there would be time to prepare.

“We didn’t know if it would go ahead until about four or five weeks ago,” he said.

“You just didn’t know what was going to happen but we just had to keep planning.

“There have been a lot of challenges with covid, council rules and the SA Government – we have been jumping plenty of hurdles.”

With fewer spectators comes some reduction in workload, with less fences to erect but Raedel said there was still so much which went on behind the scenes to ensure the event could run smoothly.

That includes around 15 kilometres of cabling to cover such things as camera footage and timing.

“The cables run all uphill, all downhill or cross country,” Raedel said.

“The timing cable, we start at the finish line, come across the top of the hill, end up at the top of the Devil’s Punchbowl, then run down the hill.

“It is like a cross-country marathon to get through there.

“So much goes into it people don’t see.”

Extra entertainment will be provided again this year by four Street Stock drivers on Sunday before the top-10 shootout.

Mark Jennings, Anthony Beare, Steve Gartner and Jason Duell will put on a show to keep spectators interested while final positions are being tallied up.

Raedel said overall this event would be special for one other reason after such a tough year for everyone in the community, here and further afield.

“It has been a long year and I think everyone is just mentally drained,” he said.

“It has been an uphill battle the whole way through so this year is really about looking after the community and giving something back.”