The 2010 Pagham Pram Race. Picture: Bill Shimmin C102194*The 2010 Pagham Pram Race. Picture: Bill Shimmin C102194*
The 2010 Pagham Pram Race. Picture: Bill Shimmin C102194*

Wheelie wonderful year for Pagham Pram Race in 2010

Hat-trick pair Alex Tonks and Andrew Dean struck Pagham Pram Race gold ten years ago. The couple took the winners’ trophy for an unprecedented third time in a row in the 2010 staging of the Boxing Day tradition. Previously, there had been entrants who had won two years in succession but a further consecutive win had proved elusive since the race began back in 1946.

That changed some 13 minutes after the start of the 2010 event as Alex and Andrew, dressed as the Chilean miners whose rescue inspired the world a few months previously, crossed the finishing line ahead of everyone else. Andrew and Alex, both from Bognor Regis, were one of many winners to donate their winnings to their favourite charity.

Cowboys and Indians rode their way to success in the fancy dress competition. Pagham chums forming The Bandits clinched the trophy from their rivals with an elaborately-designed stagecoach made on a pram. The sizeable Wild West contingent of former Bognor Regis Community College friends had followed the previous year’s Spitfire win with another deserved first place. The winning ladies were fairies Laura Gill from Aldwick and Pagham resident Katie Stubbs.