General News
12 June, 2026
Who let the dogs out?
THE mayhem and laughter of the annual Dachshund Dash returned to the Port Fairy football ground last weekend.
The running of what was believed to have been the 19th ‘Dash’ once again attracted a huge crowd of curious onlookers, eager to cheer on the four-legged entrants – all in the name of fun (and the glory of having the winner’s name engraved on the trophy).
There were plenty of turn-arounds, some nervous non-starters and a few false starts among Sunday afternoon’s heat races, while those who qualified for the finals were eager to return to the starting line.
In the under two category for Dachshunds, Theo and George Wear (visiting from Maryborough) celebrated victory with their pet, ‘Monty’ who led the field across the line.
The winner of the over two years category was first-time entrant, ‘Miles,’ owned by Windy He from Melbourne.
The veterans’ class was won by ‘Winter,’ owned by Sinead Grey of Warrnambool.
In the all breeds section, golden retriever ‘George’ was first across the line much to the thrill of his proud owners Susan and Steve Dean from Lorne.
Adding a touch of excitement and variety to the entertainment, hungry visitors Ben Evans (Port Fairy), Luke Smith (Timboon), Darcy Woolley (Koroit) and Will Jane (Kirkstall) tackled the challenge – and each other – of eating six cooked sausages as quickly as they could within three minutes.
Bragging rights now rest with popular winner, Darcy Woolley, who was first to polish off his plate.
And celebrating all things ‘sausage,’ Jens Ambjerg from the Village Bakehouse in Port Fairy produced a sausage roll he had baked earlier - hoping its length would match that of the dog judged longest on the day.
“I actually had to add another sausage roll to the end because I didn’t make this one long enough,” he said.
The ‘longest dog’ honours went to ‘Ralph’ who measured at about 83cm from nose to tail.
