Active Farmers Games a chance to remind farmers to stay active before ‘they go hide in a tractor’ for harvest

Two hundred people will tackle a massive obstacle course at a farming property west of Albany on Saturday at the 2022 Active Farmers Games. Organiser Boyd Rae, who is hosting the event on his family property for the second-year running, said there were plenty of new challenges as part of an expanded 4.8km course. “I wanted it to be a bit more of a marathon so I expect it will take around the hour mark on average,” he said. “There is also a modified version of the course for the kids after all the adults run theirs.” Participants will run two laps of a course packed with challenges such as hill climbs, balance beams, slippery slides, sand bag carries, tyre climbs, tunnels and giant see-saw. Mr Rae said 50-60 per cent of the obstacles were new for this year. “The zip-line will definitely be a bit of a challenge after climbing up a mud hill. Your hands might be a tad slippery,” he said. “We’ve had a few people test it out including my mother-in-law — she actually made it across on her first try but the second one wasn’t so good. “It’s all in good fun which is what we’re aiming for.” He said a cap of 100 teams of two had been placed on the event to keep it “nice and manageable”. The event was about 80 per cent sold-out earlier this week. “We’ll be giving out prizes for the top male team, top female team and top mixed team,” he said. Mr Rae said the event was a way to encourage farmers to remain active before they “hide in a tractor over the next couple of months during harvest”. But he said it was open to anyone regardless of whether they had farming connections. “It’s a reminder to stay active and to get everyone together which really helps with the mental health sides of things. That is our main underlining reason for all this,” he said. “I really love trying to encourage people to keep their inner child going. “It’s really important not to get old and think you need to have a six-pack each night in order to be a cool old man with a beer gut — it’s cooler to be able to move your body and have some fun.” Registrations close on Friday. For details, call Mr Rae on 0427 990 531.