ACT Brumbies Rugby 'Half-Time Mascot Dash'

Healthy Harold was personally invited by the ACT Brumbies Rugby Team to take part in its annual half time Mascot’s Dash at their home game in Canberra at Canberra Stadium.

It was a bit daunting as Healthy Harold was announced and walked out into the middle of Canberra Stadium to the roar of over 17,000 people. After a good warm up and stretching session he lined up at the start with 16 other well known mascots including the Brumbies own ‘Brumby Jack’, ‘Prime Possum’, the Heart Foundation ‘Heart’, ‘Battery Hen Betty’, the Canberra Milk ‘Milk Carton’, the Canberra Raiders ‘Viking’ and McDonalds ‘Ronald McDonald and Hamburgler’ among others.

The Mascot Dash involved a dash around the rugby field and included a number of small obstacles.

Healthy Harold got off to a flying start but caused a bit of an upset on the first obstacle (a shoulder high limbo bar) when he had a little trouble getting under it. All that could be seen was Healthy Harold’s head above the mass of mascots. This caused a bit of a bottle neck as he was in the first few mascots to get to this obstacle but he finally got under. The announcer drew attention to Healthy Harold’s plight and the crowd soon got behind him and he was on his way.

Dodging rugby tackling bags, rugby players and training cones Healthy Harold completed the course well and came home mid field with a lot of encouragement from the crowd. (Become a Face Book fan of Harold's and see the live video footage!)

For his efforts Healthy Harold received a signed ACT Brumbies Ball.

Thank you to Marty Williams, ACT Brumbies Game Operations Manager for an invitation to this event and to Brendon Yelverton for his athletic assistance.

Healthy Harold is keen to improve on his training in preparation for the Mascots Dash to be held in Orange in December and be right up there with the winners for this event next year.