Presidents Picnic Report & Results
17 September 2019 / Story by Michael Soulos, photos by Rob Wilko
President’s Picnic 2019 in the Ebenzer Church Grounds
Another beautiful day for the President’s Picnic at Ebenezer where 207 members and guests signed on to enjoy morning tea served up by Forsyth’s Coffee with the help of volunteers, 12 competitions judged by volunteer members, lunch in the company of likeminded enthusiasts, friends and members under the gum trees in the grounds of the heritage listed Ebenezer Church on the banks of the Hawksbury River.
Concours de Elegance: Concours is our number one competition with strict judging and guidelines for pre-registered cars In 2019 the most highly contested class was the NA with 6 beautifully presented cars where 2 points separated first from the equally placed second and third on the day. There were 3 cars in the ND class and as there were not a minimum of 3 registrations for NB and NC those models competed for the Open Class Trophy. The trophy winners were: -
NA: Cameron McArthur
ND: Gillian Fletcher
Open Class: John Molden
There is always a lot of talk and some misconceptions about how we judge our events. All contestants in Concours must volunteer to assist in judging and over time learn how to score cars in accordance Information & Guide Sheet and Judging Sheet to ensure experienced judges for Concours in the years to come. Concours judging takes all morning. For Show’n’Shine and MX-5 Modified competitions we have a panel for each class of 4-5 judges volunteering from the various chapters, none of whom are in competition for a class trophy for the model they are adjudicating on. The panel select by consensus the winning MX-5 entered in each class. Judging of Show'n'Shine and Modified MX-5s classes is usually completed within an hour to enable volunteers to enjoy the rest of the day.
Modified MX5: This year there were insufficient numbers in any model to enable a trophy to be issued in competition for a class. This may well be as a result of the support for the track car competition. The winner of the MX5 Modified Open Class Trophy was: -
Tamie Holtz a first time winner
Show ‘n’ Shine The biggest competition was the Show ‘n’ Shine again this year with 41 cars entered in NA, NB, NC and ND classes with many of the entries having genuine Concours standard of presentation.
The winners for the Show ‘n’ Shine trophies for 2019 are: -
NA: William Gardner a first time winner
NB: Mark Gibson a first time winner
NC: John Bramley selected by 3 different judging panels in 3 years as the winner in this class.
ND: Leona Talliah a first time winner
The Guy Coles Memorial Trophy for MX5 Track Cars: Was well patronised with 11 track cars in competition for this trophy. All the cars competing fhad previously participated in MX5 Club Track Days. The winner this year was: -
Glenn Thomas a first time winner
Ladies Prize: This year the winner of the best car parked in the church grounds and entered by a lady member in this competition was: -
Marleen Cosier a first time winner
People’s Choice: Of the 129 MX-5s at the President’s Picnic this year 63 cars were nominated in the Peoples’ Choice competition by those in attendance and each received at least one vote. Of those nominations 32 cars got more than 1 vote and one car generated significantly more votes than any other car. The winner of the Peoples’ Choice in 2019 was: -
Phil Belcher a first time winner.
Best in Show: The car chosen by Keith Monaghan with a panel judges selected by him as the best in show on the day and was: -
Jeffrey Rowe a first time winner.
By the generosity of members and visitors present, we raised $273.15 in donations for the Ebenezer Church Restoration Fund that was gladly accepted by Ted Brill on behalf of the oldest continuous congregation of any church in Australia. We conveyed our thanks to the team of 17 volunteer members of the church auxiliary who prepared and served lunch for over 200 persons.
The President’s Picnic could not be held without the support of member volunteers, be they members on the committee, one of our conveners or from the general membership. This year of the 207 people in attendance more than one in four volunteered and gave of their time for the benefit of all. We had 55 volunteer members made up of 42 from the general membership with members on the committee and the conveners present to whom the thanks off all involved and in attendance was extended by Keith Monahan at the presentation of the trophies at the conclusion of the event.
Presidents Picnic & Club's 30th Anniversary 2020
The President’s Picnic in 2020 coincides with the 30th Anniversary of our Club that is the second oldest MX-5 car club in the world behind our friends in Victoria. We will have a sit-down lunch at Ottimo House next year being the same venue where we held the successful function for our 25th anniversary in 2015.
More photos:
Click here to see Rob Wilko´s photo album
Click here to See Greg Unger's photo album
