OCHO: A New Kind of Racing

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Photo courtesy of Miguel Terrazas

A jockey spurs his cows forward during a race

Miguel Terrazas

On your marks, get set, moo!
Cow racing is pretty much as it sounds. 24 cows race a 60 meter track, and the whole event consists of three races.
“I was born a racer. Definitely a racer. Why just watch when you can actually ride the thing?” said junior Nick Hartnett.
But here’s the twist. The cows are totally untrained, so they can do whatever they think is right. Some go the opposite way, don’t go the way of the track, or some don’t even move at all. It’s a viewing feast for the audience.
“Man, I thought a farmer would train them for 9-10 hours a day, max” said junior Derrick Jenkins.
One might think that a sport like this would be small-time with not much attention paid to it. Actually, there is a large event called the Compass Cup held in Australia, which at times can hold up to, if not more, than 5,000 people. This event has been held every year since 1973. Here’s the thing: anyone can ride a cow. All you have to do is fill out some paperwork and you’re set.
“I thought they had like actual cow jockeys that get paid $500 per race. I was way off” said Jenkins.
Cow racing should definitely make its way over to the states, especially to our wonderful and vibrant campus. It would make school all worth the while, having a cow- racing team, or club set up here at WS. They could keep them behind Sparta and practice on the live construction site for some extra challenge and, in a way, a neat little obstacle course.
“I would bring it to the school to have as a club, or maybe even a team” said Hartnett “Because if you ain’t first, you’re last.”
Although bringing such a weird sport would be pretty fun, it does lack some sort of logic. There’s no way to feed or tend them or even maintain a legit place to practice since the trailer park took away the old grass practice field. It would turn the already amazing campus into a barn of sorts.
“I don’t think I would bring the sport to the school, because that’s just weird. The cows would just wander around campus and stink up the whole campus” said Jenkins “and at that point nobody would come to school.”