Villagers aboard Cambodian-flagged wooden carts yesterday ran their oxen at high speed in an annual race to safeguard the centuries-old tradition as concerns mount over development encroaching on racing grounds.
Despite scorching sun, hundreds of people flocked to see 46 pairs of oxen take part in the competition, which took place in an empty field in Kampong Speu Province, west of the capital, Phnom Penh.
The oxen, adorned with colorful masks or headgear, must sprint around a 1km dirt track.
Photo: Reuters
“It is our version of Formula 1,” organizer Khat Sokhay said. “We race oxcarts because they are on the brink of disappearance.”
The event is held every year to mark the end of the rice harvesting season and to welcome the Khmer New Year in mid-April.
“During the modern era [in other places], they race cars, but we race oxcarts so that the legacy of our ancestors won’t disappear,” 43-year-old cart driver Tang Sreang said.
Culture officials said the oxcart race was organized with the aim of saving the tradition, which stretches back hundreds of years.
“It is our heritage, so we must preserve it,” said Sun Meanchey, director of Kampong Speu’s culture department.
He also voiced concerns that grounds for such races are being taken over by homes and factories.
“What worries me is that in the future when our country is more developed, rice fields will be replaced by factories,” Sun Meanchey said.
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