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](https://thecuriouskiwi.co.nz/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ap_show-089a.jpg)
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](https://thecuriouskiwi.co.nz/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ap_show-079a.jpg)
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](https://thecuriouskiwi.co.nz/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ap_show-075b-227x300.jpg)
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](https://thecuriouskiwi.co.nz/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ap_show-032-300x225.jpg)
Miniature horse competing at Rotorua A&P Show
![Axemen competing](https://thecuriouskiwi.co.nz/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ap_show-041a-300x290.jpg)
Axemen competing