Remove the blades, add some more horse power, make it loud and low, give it a name like MowJo, and you’re on your way to having a race ready ride-on mower.

Ride-on lawn mower race at Rotorua A&P Show

When I saw lawn mower racing on the programme at the Rotorua A & P show last year, I thought it was a one off event unique to Rotorua. Not so, the first ride-on mower races were held in 2003 at the Omokoroa School gala, ride-on mowers meet regularly at the Sanson rugby park, and race at the Manawatu Garden Festival every year. The Rotorua A & P show is a regular pit stop for the racers and we watched a bunch of them dusting up a paddock and vying for the chequered flag.

Dusting up the paddock in Rotorua

Mower racing is on the programme again at the jazzed up 2014 Rotorua A & P ‘Lifestyle Expo’ on 25-26 January.

(If you’re keen to pimp out a ride-on mower check out NZ Lawn Mower Racing Assn Inc. Update:  See Hannibal Riding and Rolling his Supercharged Lawnmower at the 2014 A & P Show).

Ride-on stool at Rotorua A&P show

If you’re into more traditional forms of lawn mowers, my favourite mower – the miniature horse, will also be competing at the A & P Show along with axemen and the usual herds of livestock.

Miniature horse competing at Rotorua A&P Show

Axemen competing