Red Dog Relay backers slam City over funding cut

Stakeholders behind the Red Dog Relay have lined up to take a swipe at the City of Karratha for cutting funding to the annual event after deciding it did not meet value for money requirements.

Organisers of the relay announced on Facebook this morning it would not go ahead in 2017 because the City scrapped a commitment to provide up to $65,000 to it under the City Centre Activation Fund.

The City of Karratha has responded, claiming the relay required too much money which, if awarded, would adversely impact other events.

Red Dog 4wd Club president Mark Hannon said he could not see how the City thought it would be a good idea to scrap funding.

“having been a long supporter of this event and being an iconic event unlike any in Australia it is so disappointing for Karratha, for tourism and most certainly for our club,” he said.

“A lot of businesses will suffer for this as well because it brings a lot of money into the community.”

On Facebook Cracker Jack Paddle Sports owner Jaclyn Nicholl said local operators involved in the event had not been consulted by the City.

“This event is a major draw card for my business and the effect is far more than just cancelling an event,” she said.

City of Karratha Mayor Peter Long said the council had been a strong supporter of the relay since its inception.

“However (we) could not justify the amount of funding required from the City by the proponents to keep the event going.

“While the Red Dog relay has been a good event, the City has a limited amount of funds to put towards events and giving such a large amount to one event would reduce our ability to deliver other much-loved community events and to seed fund new events in the region.”

Red Dog Relay organiser Peter Kay said he had personally secured the dumped funding from Landcorp, which is channelled through the City.

“There’s no question we ticked all those boxes,” he said.

“This supposed value for money equation was never even part of the agreement.

“They didn’t even attempt in my view to reshape the event or talk to me.

“At no point in time did they even ring me, it was all via email.”

Mr Kay said he has had to cancel sponsorship with Tourism WA who had promoted the event on state wide advertisements thus year.