Albany driver Tayissa Condren claims historic senior victory in 2022 Soapbox National Championships

Soapbox driver Tayissa Condren has become the first Albany female to win the National Soapbox Championships since the junior and senior divisions were created for the event in 1993.

The 15-year-old finished with 13 points to win the seniors decider and recorded a fastest time of 42.03sec. in the finals.

Condren’s victory also broke the drought of Albany winners in the senior division, taking home top honours for the first time since Andrew Hannig’s victory in 2011.

Tyler Patterson returned this year and put in another terrific performance off the back of his championship win in 2021, finishing runner-up with 13 points.

Condren and Patterson were tied on 13 points at the end of the finals but Condren was awarded first place for securing the most number of wins across the final four race runs.

Saleem McNaught and Ryder Coleman finished in third and fourth place respectively in the senior division, both with seven points.

In the junior division, Jacob Oborne took out top honours on 15 points ahead of Christopher Oborne (10 points), Jacob Cobain (7) and Blake Condren (7) who all competed in the finals.

Tayissa Condren said she was pleased to make history as the first female driver to win in a number of years.

“It was a highlight to reach the top four and prove some of the boys in the race wrong.” she said.

“Next year is meant to be my last year in the competition but I’m not sure if I’ll race again, I’ll have to wait and see”.