Church becomes race track

CASSIDY PEARCE

Late last month, Nepean Baptist Church hosted yet another of their Grand Prix community events, which saw people from all over Penrith come and join in on the fun.

The Grand Prix, which has been held for seven years, despite taking a short break during COVID lockdowns, has become a staple for the church, which has its auditorium turned into any racer’s wonderland for the big event, complete with go-karts, motor bikes, racing flags, and derby paraphernalia.

As part of the event, the church sells kits for people to assemble and decorate their own unique cars to display their creativity, and win their races.

AGlenmore Park couple are inviting locals to join them for free fortnightly boxing classes at Mulgoa Rise Fields.

Baker and Felicity Prescott run the sessions every second Thursday at 6pm, and they are open to all ages and ability levels.

“We don’t discriminate… the youngest is five-years-old and the oldest, from memory, is in her 60s,” Baker said.

In New Zealand, Baker trained six days a week and did boxing, Muay Thai and jiu jitsu competitively, but stopped after arriving in Australia.

“Because we’re married and have kids now, I just do it for fitness to chase the little ones around,” he said.

Baker said he never really closed his “fight- ing chapter” and hopes to “jump back in the ring” one day, but right now he is focused on family and using his passion for sport to bring people together.

He also said he would like to compete at some charity events as he is one of the board members at a not-for-profit organisation that offers men free workouts to help with their mental health.

“I wanted to do more than just one on one sessions… I wanted to expand out to the community and make it free for people to come for their health… and share my knowledge of the sport,” he said.

Baker and Felicity are encouraging people to come along to their classes and have some fun.

“We always have a good time and there’s always a guaranteed laugh,” he said.

Search Glenmore Park Let’s Get Fit Community on Facebook for more details.

With a slow start last year following the break, Pastor Nathan Kemper said he was ecstatic to see support from the community flowing in for 2023, with over 100 racers registered prior to the day.

“We expected it to be bigger, but we were actually quite overwhelmed,” he said.

“We ended up running out of kits at the very end, which was totally unknown to us – we’ve never run out of kits before. We were scratching up kits from last year’s cars, and using spare cars, and one of them actually came in fourth!”

Whilst the event is designed for children to come in and enjoy a fun day, whilst being introduced to the church grounds, Kemper said everyone had a good time.

“People might say it’s just for kids, but I can tell you now, the adults get into it just as much,” he said.

Morgan Edmunds and Joel Muhlsimmer took out the top prize for speed, with Marianna Morris earning the title for Best Crash at the event.

Moving forward, Kemper is excited to see the event grow and become even bigger and better than ever.

“We’re already looking forward to next year,” he said.