IT MIGHT be an abridged version but the start of the 2018 Drovers’ Run is a marker of significant growth in the Westpac Rescue Helicopter fundraiser.
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Seventeen crews set-off from Nemingha early on Saturday morning, bound for Dirranbandi, hoping to pocket more than $60,000 to “to ensure that no one ever has to pay to be assisted” by the rescue chopper.
Last year the run raised about $195,000 for the chopper with its 30 teams, but this is the first event since organisers decide to go annually.
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While it’s shorter and quicker, it has drawn a relatively new crowd into the mix.
Organisers said the first leg through Barraba had laid bare the extent of of current drought conditions.
“What we saw over the next few hours just highlighted to everyone just how bad this drought is but we were blown away when we stopped to talk to a few of the farmers we passed and they still say life goes on and each day is a day closer to rain,” an update to Facebook said.