Desert Gala's fortunes rained on

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 677, 11 March 1997, Page 3

Desert Gala's fortunes rained on

After a long spell of summer the weather picked the week of the Waiouru Desert Gala to become changeable and wet! With 1000 people through the gate in the first hour, the day got off to a magnificent start. However the rain started towards midday, and looked to be setting in, sending most people and some stall holders home. A break in the weather enticed others to join in the fun later in the day, thinking the worst was over. They were wrong but were able to enjoy the fun for a while. "Everyone thought it was a 'good set up and liked having the tens competition as part of the gala," commented one of the coordinators, Ken Morton. "Unfortunately the weather was the main feature and left most people feeling pretty demoralised." This year the major beneficiary of the Desert Gala was to be the RangitikeiRuapehu Cadet Unit and these young people were seen at the gate, selling rides tickets and generally anywhere that they could help out. Although there were over 60 tented sites and another 45 open sites, the variety of goods was excellent due to theco-ordinators' effortsto limit the numbers of similar stalls. The work of 4 Logistics Battalion was apparent in the positioning of the dif-

ferent events which remained readily accessible. Major Rod Hart indicated that the stall-holders appreciated the amount of organisation which went into the day. The military displays and gold-coin rides attracted their fair share of attention from the younger members of the crowd. The Tens competition got under way early with four teams starting the tournanient at 8.30am, and 16 teams in total taking part. The final results were a credit to the determination of the players in spite of the variable conditions. The winners were Napier Technical Old Boys Rugby Club,

receiving a $500 prize making it well worth their efforts. Second place went to the Junior Non-Commis-sioned Officers' Course Team who had some surprise players such as Tim Kareika, Wellington rep half-back. Another round of applause goes to the entrants into the Mr Puny contest. Their reluctance to "bare all" in the swimsuit section probably had more to do with the weather than any sense of modesty. The judges commended the contestants and said they were hard-pressed to make their decision, so based it on crowd applause. Winner Denton Phipps, medic from

4 Medical Company, and Cliff McNaughton, a senior cadet from T aihape College was second. Mr Phipps, a South African who joined the New Zealand Army two years ago, won a television set, a meal voucher and free gym membership and personal trainer for a year. Cliff won a radio cassette player and a $60 Powderhorn meal

voucher. In spite of the bad weather, a number ofhardy souls remained at the end of the day for the lucky number prize-draws. Most of the prizes were donated by local businesses and included a television set and a Sony Playstation along with bags of apples, petrol and meal vouchers, Walkmans and radios.