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Speaker 1: It was a massive weekend right across the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure that plenty of you were out and about

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Speaker 1: going to various different things. I know a lot of

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Speaker 1: people from up here in the top end heading to

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Speaker 1: Central Australia for the Fink Desert Race and it has

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Speaker 1: wrapped up for another year after bikes, cars and buggies

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Speaker 1: all race through desert country in Central Australia. And joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line right now to tell us a

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Speaker 1: little bit more about how it all went. It is

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Speaker 1: the Think Vice President Kelsey Branford. Good morning to you, Kelsey.

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Speaker 1: Good morning Katie Kelsey. How are you all feeling today

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Speaker 1: after what was no doubt a massive weekend it was.

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Speaker 2: We're all feeling very relieved. We got through it and

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Speaker 2: that was huge. Everyone was awesome and it was a

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Speaker 2: really really great weekend.

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Speaker 1: Now talk us through who won what categories?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, now we're going to have the same poster again

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Speaker 2: this year. Toby christ once again took out the car

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Speaker 2: with his co driver Jason Dunt Duncan who's from the States,

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Speaker 2: and David Walsh took out the bikes, but second in

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Speaker 2: the cars with a guy called Greg Gartner and his

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Speaker 2: Navigator Jamie Jennings. They actually were the first trophy truck

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Speaker 2: to ever win Think back in twenty ten, I think

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Speaker 2: for eleven. And then in third place we had Travis

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Speaker 2: Robinson and Andrew Pinto. Travis hasn't raced Think for about

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Speaker 2: six years and he made a return. He did a

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Speaker 2: really great job, got it on the podium and it

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Speaker 2: was really good. And then in the bikes we had

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Speaker 2: second place with cal Norton. He's the new generation Think wrider.

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Speaker 2: He's only twenty one and he's done really well this year.

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Speaker 2: So first podium for him and third places Ivan Long

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Speaker 2: who has been on the podium before. But yeah, it

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Speaker 2: was a really really successful weekend.

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Speaker 1: It sounds like it was. And it does sound as

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Speaker 1: though once somebody's raced in the Think once that they

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Speaker 1: seem to come back.

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Speaker 2: They do. It's something we don't know what it is.

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Speaker 2: It's Think magic, but they'll tell you on race day

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Speaker 2: two or I'm never coming back this articular, and then

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Speaker 2: there they are entering the very next year. Good on

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Speaker 2: a little bit like childbirth, Go back and give it

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Speaker 2: another go.

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Speaker 1: Want to forget how difficult it was forgot? Hey tell

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Speaker 1: us Kelsey, I know that you know, there was some

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Speaker 1: pretty awesome times as well. How did they go time wise?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. It was another fast track this year,

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Speaker 2: and Toby was very very fast and he was in

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Speaker 2: you know, I think it was an hour and thirty

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Speaker 2: five or thirty six minutes on day one and David

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Speaker 2: posting fast times in the hour forties. So it was

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Speaker 2: another quick track. But yeah, it's just getting quicker and

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Speaker 2: quicker each year. But that's with the track and we'll

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Speaker 2: see what next year brings. It could be flower, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: you never know.

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Speaker 1: I suppose I'm assuming that the conditions change based on

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Speaker 1: various different things.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, yeah, rain, no rain, all that kind of thing.

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Speaker 2: And because it's yeah, natural.

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Speaker 1: Tracks, Hey tell us in terms of the numbers on

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Speaker 1: previous years, how did they look? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Good, good. So we were expecting less this year. Just

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Speaker 2: motorsport is expensive, so when the cost of living pressures

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Speaker 2: come along, that's when we see that middle of the

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Speaker 2: range guys who were you know, got mortgages and kids

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Speaker 2: and that sort of thing sort of drop off. But

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Speaker 2: we ended up with four hundred and sixty one bikes

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Speaker 2: and one hundred and thirty one cars and almost eight

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Speaker 2: hundred competitors in total, so we were really really happy

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Speaker 2: with that and it was still a really good, healthy

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Speaker 2: numbers despite you know, the financial pressures on everyone happening

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Speaker 2: at the moment. And yeah for them, yeah, I.

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Speaker 1: Was going to say, do you know if you had

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Speaker 1: good numbers?

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Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, really good numbers. And I have to give

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Speaker 2: a shout out to the Northern Territory Government and the

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Speaker 2: volunteers of particularly our Spectator Marshalls who came out. You know,

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Speaker 2: it was hard to get this race across the line

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Speaker 2: this year with the car section, just making sure we

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Speaker 2: got all the safety right that Motorsport Australia wanted, and

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Speaker 2: you know, the Northern Terti Government and those Spectator Marshals

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Speaker 2: and all the volunteers, they really really came out in

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Speaker 2: the last four weeks and made this race happen. So

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Speaker 2: without that we would have seen no cars competing. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: I have to give that shout out. We thought keep

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Speaker 2: the spectator still, We thought that might you know, maybe

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Speaker 2: not see as many as we had before, but no,

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Speaker 2: they were still out in strong numbers.

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Speaker 1: It was really good and as you touched on, obviously

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Speaker 1: some safety changes had to take place. Did everything run

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Speaker 1: pretty smoothly from your perspective, Kelsey.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, really really good. It was a bit manic there

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Speaker 2: for four weeks because as you can imagine, there was

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Speaker 2: you know, hundreds of kilometers of bunting and track to

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Speaker 2: make sure we had done. Amaron just came out of

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Speaker 2: a look it. We had businesses who closed for the

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Speaker 2: day to take all their staff down bunting. We had

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Speaker 2: riders and competitive car teams come down on their day

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Speaker 2: off and help bunt. So we were really really lucky

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Speaker 2: with and yeah, it worked, It worked really really well,

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Speaker 2: really really well. And for the most part, you know,

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Speaker 2: ninety nine percent of people were amazing. There's always going

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Speaker 2: to be a one cent. Yeah, you had to be

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Speaker 2: reminded to move back, but yeah, for the for the

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Speaker 2: most part, it was really really good.

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Speaker 1: And so Kelsey, from your perspective, a successful think and

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Speaker 1: you know, it's it sounds as though great numbers, a

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Speaker 1: great volume of people there to watch but also to

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Speaker 1: be part of it.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, Yep. We can only go bigger and stronger from here,

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Speaker 2: and I guess we all start again on Monday. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: well this is it twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 1: Yep. And in terms of you know, like we know

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Speaker 1: that in Central Australia. It's been a tough time over

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Speaker 1: recent months in terms of having a huge event like

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Speaker 1: the Think Desert Race. You know how important is it

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Speaker 1: with the injection to the economy and and you know

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Speaker 1: getting so many visitors to Central Australia.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really important and you know, the people of ours.

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Speaker 2: This is why people from all over Australia and even

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Speaker 2: over the internationally come back and race Think it's fink itself, yes,

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Speaker 2: but the town of Alice gets so go behind Think

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Speaker 2: and the obecular community. It's everyone's race that lives here,

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Speaker 2: and so that was the forefront in our minds. It

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Speaker 2: is so important, and it's not just the economy, like, yes,

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Speaker 2: that is the big piece. You know, we had booked

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Speaker 2: out hotels and caravan parks and restaurants full and all

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Speaker 2: that kind of thing, But it's just it brings a

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Speaker 2: vibe that it brings people and they all love Alice.

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Speaker 2: Everyone loves Alice, so they were all happy to be back.

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Speaker 2: The amount of things we saw on social media, they're

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Speaker 2: so excited to be back in Alice. And I think

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Speaker 2: that's what the people of Alice needed. They needed to

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Speaker 2: see that the town is awesome. It has its problems.

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Speaker 2: I'm born here, I have to say that, but like

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Speaker 2: this town is magical.

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Speaker 1: It's magic and it's so wonderful I think, you know,

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Speaker 1: when something like The Think gets under why, there is

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Speaker 1: so many things to love about Central Australia, so many

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Speaker 1: things to love about the Northern territory. So it is

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Speaker 1: really great to see that it's gone well.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, thank you, it has.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm really pleased to hear that, And Kelsey, congratulations

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Speaker 1: to all of you involved. I know so much work

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Speaker 1: goes into organizing an event like the Think, particularly you know,

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Speaker 1: when you look at the safety concerns and everything that's

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Speaker 1: had to happen in the weeks leading in, I'm so

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Speaker 1: glad to hear that it's all run smoothly.

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Speaker 2: Yes, no, thank you, and just thank you to everyone's support.

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Speaker 2: It's been amazing.

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Speaker 1: Kelsey Branford, lovely to speak to you this morning. Thanks

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Speaker 1: so much for your time.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you,