Fun day for whippeteers

By Dion Teasdale
WHIPPET enthusiasts across Victoria are being called to Healesville for a social family fun day and to help with the creation of an amateur racing club.
A small group of whippet owners, who call themselves ‘whippeteers’, from across the Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges, have banded together for the event.
The social family fun day will be held at the Healesville Greyhound Track on Sunday, September 10, from 11am and will feature a sausage sizzle and racing trials for whippets.
Group spokeswoman, Linda Meerman said interest would be gauged on the day for establishing a racing club for whippets in Healesville.
“If the event is successful and there is enough interest and support, we will look at setting up an amateur whippet racing club,” she said.
Ms Meerman said racing whippets was common in the US and the UK but had yet to really take off in Australia.
“The whippet has always been seen as the poor man’s greyhound, but they are in fact very good racers,” she said.
“Whippets were actually bred for racing and they are extremely fast, even faster than greyhounds.
“They have been recorded racing up to 54km per hour,” she said.
Mr Meerman said the breed was particularly good at moving at high speeds over short distances and was well suited to using a lure racetrack.
She also said the group was expecting whippeteers from across the state to attend the event.
“So far we’ve got people coming from as far a field as Sale, Seaford, Bundoora and Bayles,” she said.
For more information about the event email yvwrc@hotmail.com.