SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine:

The starter let them go and the crowd cheered the animals and their riders, who hurried down the stretch of pavement, as onlookers watched in amazement at the unfamiliar sight of donkeys careening down the roadway.

The occasion saw hundreds of visitors and residents flocking the rural Top Hill community in St Catherine for their annual Emancipation Donkey Race Competition.

Inclement weather

After taking the trek through the plains of Lluidas Vale and asking along the way, The Gleaner was told "just around the corner", "just around the corner" until we eventually arrived at the location about noon and found several persons braving the inclement weather.

Grazing nearby were several donkeys. Unknown to these beast of burden, they were soon to set the place alight.

"What dem a wait fah fi start the race man, you know how far mi travel from fi come yah and dem keep holding up di starting gate," remarked Shanice Williams, who said she travelled all the way from Santa Cruz in St Elizabeth for the event.

Her wait was over in a minute or so when John Dawkins took the first of many races.

John used his experience to outclass his much younger rider and talked about his tactics with pride after the race.

"A long time mi a do it man, mi use to it, a win some and a lose some, but a put mi donkey pon di outside and that is how a get to beat the young boy today," he told The Gleaner, while sipping on a cold Dragon stout.

Happiness

Several persons who attended the race told The Gleaner that for more than a decade the annual event that started with the celebration of a man's birthday, brought happiness and created fanfare in an otherwise very quiet community.

Ferdenand 'onie' Moiten was one of many victorious riders on the day and he spared no words in suggesting that he is a good donkey man.

"Yea man, a inna the woods ya mi grow, so mi know bout the donkey them, a years now mi a raise donkey and mi love it." he said.

So popular has the event become that political representatives such as Robert Pickersgill has patronised the races for several years.

Pickersgill thanked residents for attending and vouched to give his support to the annual event.

The distance of each race was 100m and there were at least eight races throughout the day.

For those who weren't into the races, food and beverage were on hand, while others enjoyed the extasy of good music from the apparently popular Love Roots sound system.