KARUAH stood loud and proud on Chris Hood’s kit and vehicle as he competed in the Condo 750 navigational rally between 31 March and 2 April this year at Condobolin.

Chris Hood, a North Arm Cove local with connections in Karuah, had previously won the two-stroke class in 2019, and has competed in the Finke Desert Race near Alice Springs, and the Sunraysia Safari Rally in the Wentworth region of western NSW.

Held in Condobolin, Central West NSW, the Condo 750 is an offroad navigational rally for cars run in stages, motorbikes, buggies, quad bikes and sidecars, held since 1988 until the COVID-19 shutdown.

“COVID has destroyed events in regional towns like Condobolin and Karuah, in some cases the single event that small communities really rely on, including the Karuah Oyster Festival,” Mr Hood told News Of The Area.

“I’ve managed to advertise the Karuah Centre website, and have Destination Karuah and Hunter Quarries on sponsor shirts, banners, bumper stickers and bike decals,” Mr Hood explained the extent to which he has gone to promote Karuah out west.

“The race is the only community club-based rally left in Australia, bringing entrants from five states to attend, and I want to show off Karuah through the sponsorships to bring more people back to our coastal town, too,” Mr Hood added.

This year, throughout the weekend of 31 March to 2 April, Chris Hood competed in the H3 class, for engines over 450cc, covering the 840 competitive offroad kilometres, with an added 440 ‘liaison’ kilometres on-road.

“The whole weekend is hell on body and mind,” Mr Hood candidly told NOTA, “but it is good to see such events back for the first time since 2019.”

Mr Hood thanked the local sponsors in and around Karuah, and said, “With the same post-COVID situation here as there, we just need to promote our place and get things back on the road.”

By Thomas O’KEEFE