Gunnedah celebrated Australia Day with a sporting extravaganza on Sunday.
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It started at 6.30am with the triathlon when 52 competitors lined up in the annual event which comprised long course, enticer and tiny tots races.
Kelly Watson was, for the third straight year, the first woman home in the long course race. Lauren Ferguson was second and Sophie King third. Ewan McFarlene won the men's event from Sam Jones and Nathan Brown.
Angus Hobson finished ahead of Nash Carlyon and Tom Carlyon in the male enticer with Scout Newberry taking the honours in the female race. Lucy Robertson crossed second and Macey Carlyon third.
The action then moved on to Gunnedah Rugby Park for the Aussiefest activities.
"We had a great day out there, it was tremendous," Aussiefest coordinator John Hickey said.
"Wayne Griffiths made a tremendous speech about how Gunnedah unite through sport and how the two cultures can mix together simply by a love of sport."
One of the features of the Aussiefest festivities was the Indigenous v The Rest touch competition.
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The Indigenous side took the honours in the women's competition 6-nil to win the Donna Smith/Hickey Cup. The tables were turned in the men's with The Rest getting the better of the Indigenous side 7-2 to claim the Wayne Griffiths Cup.
Hickey said they were enjoying themselves do much they ended up adding a mixed game.
The Dash for Cash races saw "more kids than ever" in the 12&U division, and three of the four winners ran record times.
Fresh from success at the recent country championships, Bella Sawyer clocked 14.55secs to set a new benchmark for the girls dash for cash. Harry Ryman then came out and ran a record 13.39secs to win the boys race.
"They both ran extremely well," Hickey said.
Mason Louis was second and Eamon Martin third in the boys, while Lacy Klienschafer took second in the girls and Claudia Cobb third.
Thomas siblings Yasmin and Jasper sprinted their way to the honours in the adult races, with Jasper's 11.37secs setting a new record.
He finished ahead of Liam Ireland and Kurt Fisher. Maddy Griffin and Annaliese Martin took the placings behind Jasmin.
One of the more novel events is the beer mile race, or by popular vote a beer 800m.
Essentially a boat race but with running in between, Hickey said it came down to a sprint finish.
The final event was the touch football shootout. One of the longest-running events on the Australia Day program, Nautica Eather and Danika Jones took out the women's, and Craig Louis and Cal Woodhouse the men's. Eather also teamed up with James Donnelly to win the mixed.
