The fact that passionate Wagga residents have to explain what the hell Gumi is to those who are unfortunate to have never experienced the thrill of building a (hopefully) floating contraption to tackle the murky waters of the mighty Murrumbidgee – let alone boast to those same people that we are home to the world titles of the elite sport – is testament to just how lucky we are to have access to the event.

The name is derived from the New Guinea word for rubber.

The rules are simple – your craft must be home-made, it must be manually propelled and 80 per cent of what you use for flotation must be from inflated inner tubes (of course there are other safety rules).

After a long hiatus, the annual event returned in 2011 and 110 gumis made the seven-kilometre trek from Eunony Bridge to Wiradjuri Beach.

Sunday’s race attracted about 60 water craft.

For South Wagga Apex to keep the tradition afloat, it needs us to support it as best we can.

The club has worked tirelessly to bring the tradition back to life.

It has had to jump through many hoops to appease the various government regulations to keep the day as safe as possible while remaining a viable event.

And while the weekend just gone was an unusually busy one in the region, with an AFL pre-season clash in Narrandera and the beach volleyball carnival in Cootamundra – Wagga has a large enough population to keep this unique tradition alive.

In its first incarnation, the raft race built up a lofty following where competitors would come from all corners of the world to compete, including Miss Teen USA. 

The race was a part of a week-long carnival – the Wagga Gumi Festival – with a street parade, the crowning of Miss Gumi queen and king, among the highlights.

Those who remember the race back then would remember the flour bombs and rotten-egg projectiles thrown at competitors – both from the rafts and spectators lining the river bank and bridges.

The festival went into recess in 1995 amid escalating public liability insurance costs and other factors.

We’ve already lost it once – we should never let history repeat, because we can not let this very Wagga event be confined to the annals of our rich, quirky history.