Canterbury turned on the most glorious day for the ninth running of the Dave Carr Memorial truck run, and once again, the weather reflected the mood of what was another grand event.

“You always have those little butterflies,” says Dave Ching, standing at the registration desk alongside his Dave Carr Memorial Run co-organiser Cam Lill. “Will this be the year not many turn up? It never is, though, look at them … here they all come.”

In its ninth year in 2024, the one-day event is held in honour of their good mate – truck enthusiast/photographer, South Island Palfinger salesman and all- around good bloke Dave Carr, who died of a heart attack two days after the inaugural Magpie’s Truck Run, an event he helped organise.

“You still have a huge sense of shock when you think back to hearing the news a couple of days after the run, that Dave had died.”

What better way to honour the man, than to name all successive events in his honour. “We’ve never had a wet weather contingency,” says Dave with a laugh. “He always turns the weather on.”

The programme followed its tried-and-true recipe – gathering and registration at the old Highway Inn site on Sawyers Arms Road in Belfast, ready for a 9am departure, and a spin around the Canterbury region following an itinerary revealed on the morning itself. It creates a wonderful mood of excitement and anticipation.

In a lovely touch, Dave and Cam follow the welcome with the traditional moment of silence for Dave Carr and all those the industry has lost in the year since everyone last gathered.

“Next year is obviously number 10, and, in all honesty, we never expected it would grow this big or run for this long,” says Cam to the gathering.

“There’ll definitely be a number 10, but we’re not sure where to go from there, so if anyone has some thoughts and ideas for something special next year, and what we should do beyond, please let us know.”

A memorial run also means it’s not a classic run, and so all comers are welcome – size and age is no barrier. This year saw everything from a 1.5-tonne TR Group Isuzu NPR to a BR Satherley T909 heavy haul tractor, and a 1936 Plymouth truck right through to Gerard Daldry’s Scania 770ST, which had been in the country fewer than 96 hours when Cam issued the ‘Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines’ instruction.

Mascot for the day was SI-Lodec’s Mike Long in his 1963 Mini 850.

This year, the run took participants along Old West Coast Road to the Waimakariri Gorge and on to Oxford for morning tea. From there, the convoy motored through Ashley Gorge to the immaculate Brand Logging workshops and museum in the old New Zealand Forest Service Ashley Forest headquarters.

Tony Brand welcomed the troop and then we were taken on tours of the facility, followed by a barbecue lunch in the grounds, organised by Dave and Cam.

The day was rounded out with the traditional evening get- together and charity auction, this year held at the Racecourse Hotel and Motor Lodge in Riccarton.

At its peak, 90 trucks were involved in the day, and both Dave and Cam couldn’t have been happier.

“We were able to hand over $3020 to the Tramway Historical Trust at Ferrymead in Christchurch, a place Dave [Carr] was heavily involved with,” says Dave.