Makepung Balinese Grand Prix, Bali Indonesia.

Makepung, The Balinese Grand Prix
Photo and Text by Barry Kusuma

If the Maduraneese have Kerapan Sapi, then Makepung, is what people call it here in Bali. These two similar yet different tradition makes it unique and entertaining to see.

Makepung, literally means ‘chasing around’ in Bahasa. It’s a tradition of bull racing which has been passed through generations in Bali’s society, specifically in Jembrana. It started of as race between farmers during their spare time when they were plowing the field in the harvest season. At that time, they compete to race for goals using a cart tied up to the bull which controlled by a jockey. It then begun to evolved and draws more attention to the people.

Today, the Makepung has become one of the most interesting and viewed attraction for local tourist as well as foreign. It also become an annual agenda in Bali, thus professionally managed.
Makepung participants weren’t limited to farmers only. Employees and businessman are welcomed to participate or merely being the spectatres. In big races such as the Governor’s Cup, the amount of participants could extend up to 300 pairs of bull and even more. The atmosphere gets to be livelier with the jegog player (a Balinese musical instrument made from bamboo) doing what they do best.

Since its first official race in the 70s, the rules and equipment for the Makepung were having several adjustments. For example, in the past, the bull used was only one. Today, they use a pair of bulls. The Cikar or carriage for the rider were previously big, now they use smaller ones. All bulls which are being used today are “modiste” compared to the old time. They were given accessories such as crowns and flags. The track they used to perform Makepung race has a ‘U’ shape which extends along 1-2 kilometer.

Quite different from Maduraneese’s Kerapan Sapi Madura or other race events, Makepung has a unique set of rules. The race’s winner doesn’t determined by who finishes first only. Each participant must maintain a distance of 10 meter from his contender before crossing the line. On the contrary, if the contender were able to lessen the distance to be less than 10 meter, it makes him the winner. Each race took about 8-10 minutes length of time.

Fans and participants of the Makepung in Jembrana were divided into two groups known as Eatern Block and Western Block. These blocks were made based on the flow of Ijo Gading river which devided the capital city of Jembrana. Each block would meet in an official race every twice a week. And each block has their own ciruit used for training or unofficial race.

What makes Makepung unique and entertaining is the expression when the rider quickens their bulls by shouting in their block’s slogans. Riders would whip their bulls with a stick during the race in a 2 meter wide track to achieve maximum speed. Some of them even use stick with nails attached to it. It’s not a surprise to see those bulls were bleeding ofter a race.

Makepung has always been adrenaline rushed due to seceral riders sometime fail to properly control their bulls. It often happens when they try to overtake the other rider. When the bulls were out of control, they would slip out the track and went straight to the mud, or even get flipped. That what makes the crowd cheered even more…

Photo & Text by Barry Kusuma

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