UK: Lawnmower racers compete to be world champion

Graham Harvey and Ian Tanswell become champions after weekend of lawn mower racing. Racers gathered on farm land at Billingshurst in England's East Sussex area on Saturday and Sunday (September 22 to 23) for the lawnmower racing tournament which the organisers call "the world championships". The racers took part in a series of races and scored points to find the eventual champion. Organised by the British Lawn Mower Racing Association (BLMRA), the racing is devised to be cheap and fun. The association prides itself on inventing the sport in 1973, and since then it has flourished, especially in the United States. Racing organised by the BLMRA has no sponsorship and no cash prizes. The mowers are made safe with the blades removed. There are four classes of racing which include people running behind motor mowers designed for domestic lawns, a rider on a towed seat bumping along behind a motor mower such as is used in big gardens or parks and a sit-on mower, again for domestic gardens, not farms. Graham Harvey, a veteran competitor and current British championship group two leader, beat challenges from former world champion Mike Cresswell (number 58) and the young pretender Steve Bush (number 67) to win the group two title with 110 points overall. In the group three category former world champion Ian Tanswell, who last won the title in 2000, showed he still had the ability by beating a host of younger racers on points to win his sixth title. In the final heat he came home second, to winner and current British group three championship leader Dean Fuller, to take the title.

ITN Source | September 25, 2007

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