Merv Renshaw, a gate supervisor, will be attending his 57th Carnival this year. Merv travelled to his first Oakbank Carnival in 1947 on the then Goodwood Railway Station to Oakbank train.

The first train to leave Goodwood on Easter Saturday and Monday at 5am contained the casual staff at the front of the train and the horses and horse handlers at the rear. Several other trains followed bringing patrons to the event. At the end of the day the staff, horse and horse handler's train was the last train back to Goodwood arriving at 10pm, certainly a long day by anybody's standards.

Merv now travels to and from Oakbank in his motor car but still leaves his home in Adelaide at 6am and returns at 5pm, which are considered much more respectable hours.

The next call to be received was from Maurice Klemich who attended his first meeting in 1944 following the racing ban in 1942 and 1943 through World War II.

Maurice has subsequently attended every Oakbank Carnival since which makes 2003 his 60th attendance. For the last ten years Maurice has presented to the winning jockey of the Great Eastern Steeplechase a set of Waterford Crystal Glasses.

Maurice sums up Oakbank in one word and that is "tradition". When his grandchildren attended their first Oakbank Carnival in 1998 they were the fourth generation of his family to enjoy Oakbank.

The next call the office received was from member Darryl Koch to advise that his mother Nellie Koch who lives at Plympton Park will be attending her 57th consecutive Oakbank this year. Nellie, who is 86 years of age, commenced attending Oakbank with her parents at age 8 and has only missed 3 Oakbank's since then.

With the first of the Oakbank Trails to be conducted next Monday (14th April) the Advertiser article is bound to bring to light further instances of people and their attendance records. Undoubtedly, Maurice's 60 years will certainly be put to the test.

Media Release - Oakbank Racing Club

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