New Zealand's most beloved tradition: The NPC Mascot Race

11:18 am on 24 October 2025

Jamie Wall, Sports Journalist

NPC Mascot Race 2024. Photo: Elias Rodriguez / www.photosport.nz

Canterbury v Otago - NPC final

Kick-off: 4:05pm Saturday 25 October

Apollo Projects Stadium, Christchurch

Live coverage on RNZ

While Canterbury and Otago prepare to battle for provincial rugby supremacy this weekend, intrigue is swirling around what will take place at halftime. The annual NPC Mascot Race will once again run at halftime, with the event still shrouded in controversy over last year's events.

Whanganui's Barrie The Butcher won the 2024 edition, held at a very wet and windy Sky Stadium in Wellington, however did so without his customary freezing works gumboots. Not only that, a false start by Auckland mascot Winger the Seagull was allowed to stand, with the race quickly descending into carnage.

Despite the outrage from fans over the way the race unfolded, NZ Rugby has stayed suspiciously quiet on the issue in the lead up to this year's event, which will see representatives from 14 unions involved, including four from the Heartland Championship.

So here's a look at what you can expect from this year's race, which will once again take place after both teams have headed off to the sheds for halftime.

Redemption for Larry The Lamb?

Larry The Lamb. Photo: ActionPress

Despite Canterbury's proud history of success in provincial rugby, the same cannot be said of their much-maligned mascot Larry The Lamb. The wearer of the infamously cheap costume, which consists of a tattered sheep's head and not much else, came dead last in 2024. Larry has claimed on social media that he's been training hard to make up for it, but at least he can already claim victory over Otago, who do not even have a mascot to send anymore.

Memories are long

NPC Mascot Race 2024. Photo: Elias Rodriguez / www.photosport.nz

The 2023 race, held at Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth, featured an iconic score-settling moment between Wellington's Leo the Lion and the unfortunate Swoop the Magpie from Hawke's Bay. The pair tussled again last year and will likely continue their feud this weekend.

Heartland Dominance

The last two editions of the race have been won by Thames Valley's Swamp Fox and the controversial Barrie The Butcher, which means that an NPC side is yet to take out the coveted prize in the modern era.

The Barrie Rule

The controversial Barrie The Butcher. Photo: Elias Rodriguez / www.photosport.nz

After last year's race, which saw Barrie The Butcher take off his trademark gumboots and streak away barefoot to victory, it is understood that no mascot will be allowed to alter their costumes this time around.

Tim and Ru return

Tim and Ru. Photo: ActionPress

South Canterbury are the only province that boasts identical twin mascots, Tim and Ru. While their names are a clever play on Timaru, Ru's reasonably close likenesses of Adolf Hitler are either an innocent coincidence or an ill-thought out connection to the town's most famous tree.

Scratched

Northland's Tani the Taniwha and Harry the Harbour Dog are non-starters, perhaps due to the fact that their teams were pretty awful in the NPC season and neither were up to much in last year's race.