Marking the birth of a nation, the 28th annual Australia Day cockroach races have been held in Brisbane.
Following in the foot-steps of previous thoroughbred cockroaches 'Cocky Balboa', 'Priscilla - Queen of the Drains' and 'Osama Bin Liner', 'Irish Cock' claimed this year's place in the cockroach hall of fame.
On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip and a fleet of 11 ships arrived at what would become Sydney Cove and claimed the land for the British Empire. Two hundred and twenty-one years on from that historic landing, patriots in Brisbane celebrated their national holiday in style.
The event format is extremely simple.
A container filled with 20 to 35 cockroaches is up-turned in the centre of the arena and the first 'cocky' to cross the outer line is the victor.
It may not compare with the Ashes or the Australian Open tennis championships in the hearts of Aussie sports fans, but the event still attracts hundreds of spectators on a yearly basis.
So, just how do you spot a thoroughbred cockroach?
"The motto is 'the harder they are to catch the better runner they are'," says Richard Deery, event organiser. "They spend the last few nights catching them. You can't do much to train them, as much as they tell us they do, but they can't really do much to train one. So what happens, when the race is started, the cockroaches are exposed to sunlight, they hate the sunlight so they quickly go to shade, so away they go to the outside."
Like many of these events, the Australia Day cockroach races were first dreamt up in a pub. Two Brisbane men came up with the idea after arguing over which suburb - Kangaroo Point or Hawthorne - had the biggest, strongest and fastest cockroaches.
Things have changed a lot since the inaugural event day in 1982.
"It's been great, you know," says Andy Johnston, chief steward. "It's really grown a lot in the last few years and, even everything we do in the stewards' tent, it's become a lot more professional, you know, so....but at the same time it's a whole lot of fun, you know."
Competition is fierce and although spectators are encouraged to bring along their own racers, casual trainers can purchase cockroaches on the day.
Victory brings little more than a small trophy and the acclaim of the gathered crowd.
However, the sweet taste of success - usually preceded by the taste of alcohol - is enough to send some cock-a-hoop.
"I can't believe it. It's unbelievable," says the winning trainer. "Like, I've been training my cockroach for this moment for weeks. I gave him steroids last night, I thought he was dead. Apparently he'd spawned during the night and it's the spawn of Peter that actually won!"
One of the main highlights of the day is the steeplechase. Coiling a length of garden hose around the arena adds another level of difficulty to matters as the cockroaches have make-shift hurdles to negotiate.
Coming out on top after all 14 races were complete was overseas entrant 'Irish Cock'.
Australia's love affair with cockroaches seems to know no bounds and those that aren't up to the rigours of racing make a tasty between-meal snack.
APTN / 3 News