Page 13 - Koi Net - On-Line Koi Magazine - Issue 36

Set up of this massive event began on the Friday before
The ‘piece de resistance’ would most definitely have Koi in the Show. Although
of this year’s Show, the any reputable judge is perfectly capable of judging their
Torii Gate being constructed
by Richard Davies and own Koi fairly, alongside others, it has never been
his team. regarded as desirable and can cause unfavourable
comment. To avoid this, great care was taken to allocate
the three Sydney judges showing Koi, classes in which
they had no entries at all. For example, Ian and I had no
Size 2 entries, so I was allocated this size as a starting
point. Kazuyo was allocated Size 1, while Gerard judged
Size 4. It was decided that the major awards should be
initially judged by everyone, but by secret ballot, each
judge selecting two possible winners then placing their
voting slips in a ballot box to be counted by an
independent Show committee member. From this point,
it was thought that the two judges without any Koi in the
Show – Allan Bennett and Lee Nguyen – would make
final selections. Good in theory, but on the day it did not
quite work out this way as Gerard & Kazuyo McDonald,
with a potential Grand Champion A Koi entered into the
Show, decided in the end not to participate in judging
the major awards at all, whilst I just stepped back where
Ian and I had a possible contender (GC B award).
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the Show, all the bins being placed in their requisite
positions – large or smaller depending on the size of Koi
entered by each exhibitor. This in itself was a mammoth
task, working out how many and what size bins to
THE WATER allocate then making a map for the layout! Also on
Friday, the crosswire was strung holding all the
TRUCK DULY Koinorbori and banners across the centre of the arena
ARRIVED, plus all other banners placed around the ground. Lastly,
the ‘piece de resistance’ of this year’s Show, the Torii
FILLING ABOUT Gate – constructed by Richard Davies – was erected.
Bright red, it looked wonderful! Artificial grass was laid
A QUARTER OF over some of the area inside the gate; TV screens
THE BINS (linkage coordinated by Adam Holden), tables and
chairs for the results team, the computers, printer and
the all-important tea trolley were set in place and the
weary team retired for the night only to start again on
Saturday to place the entry boards with all the Koi
photographs, air lines and potted palms around the
arena before the water truck arrived to fill the 84 bins.
Yes, 84! The final count of entries was 551 – a record for
any Australian Koi Show. After all the worries about
having insufficient entries to stage the Show in the main
arena at all, everyone was absolutely delighted with the
support hobbyists have given to this Show. So many
new exhibitors as well; bringing our grand total to 36,
another record.
Also on Saturday, quite a few of the vendors began their
own set-up on the concourse above the arena. The
number of participants, mostly organised by Richard
Power, was very large this year, including not only Koi-
related items and Koi, but also bonsai, honey, fancy
goods plus small pets like birds and rabbits. I must say
at this point, Richard really deserves several medals
for all his work with the administration, finance and
organisation of the Show, vendors and the dinner venue
on Monday night. As Ian quite rightly said to me, he has
been a tower of strength.
To return to the Show set-up, the water truck duly
arrived, filling about a quarter of the bins before having
to depart for more water. This unfortunately was the
The water truck filling point at which proceedings went decidedly pear-
the bins before
having to depart for shaped. The second truckload of water – taken from a
more water. fire hydrant on the Equestrian Centre site came out
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