Wyndham to be one hell of a race meat

Wednesday, 11 March 2015

Southern Institute of Technology students, from left, Lorraine Labitad, Libby Munro and Harold Taningco, with the posters they designed for Sunday’s Wyndham Racing Club meeting. The students and their tutor, Patrice Spencer-Humm, have been marketing the club’s annual race meeting.

A sausage competition is among off track activities at the Wyndham Racing Club's Cup meeting on Sunday.

Racegoers will be invited to sample free sausages from four Southland butcheries — Woodlands Butchery, Edendale Butchery, Churchy's Quality Meats and Upper Cuts Winton — and vote for the one they like. The butchery with the most votes wins a trophy.

The club's marketing and promotions officer, Patrice Spencer-Humm, is also a hotel management degree tutor at the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) in Invercargill. She is being helped with promoting Sunday's race meeting by 16 of her students.

The student's work will go towards their events management paper. Their marketing plan, included promoting the raceday at the Southern Wild Food Festival (in February) and distributing flyers and posters at supermarkets and TABs.

'It's given them [students] a really good feel for what needs to be done to organise an event,' Spencer-Humm said.

It is the second time Spencer-Humm and her students have marketed the Wyndham club's annual race meeting. Other attractions at this year's raceday include, children's fashion in the field, face painting, pony rides, scavenger hunts and bouncy castle.

'It's been hard work, but really good to get the experience,' student Libby Munro said.

'It'll benefit us for the future.'

Racegoers, who spend $10 to join the punters' club on Sunday, will go into a draw to be the owner of the day. The draw winner will own All Spice for the day and if the sprinter earns stake money in the industry open (benchmark 90) 1100m, five percent will be given to the draw winner.

Club officials are rapt with the 170 horse entries for the day.

Spencer-Humm and her students are also marketing the Wairio Jockey Club's meeting at Ascot Park on May 10.