Organisers of the Cootamundra Beach Volleyball Carnival will create a sixth court for next year’s event which will be held over the weekend of February 18 and 19.

What began as a pipedream more than a decade ago has grown into arguably the biggest sporting event on the local calendar, with more than 1000 participants again expected to take part in either the volleyball or the accompanying triathlon.

Spokesperson for the committee Julisia Cross said nominations for next year’s event will open shortly.

“We will be throwing open the nominations on New Year’s Day and, as we did last year, we have to limit the entries to the first 96 teams,’” Cross said.

“We know people are caught up in Christmas mode at the moment, but the scary thing is the carnival is only eight Saturday’s away. It will be here before we know it.”

Cross said her committee is expecting to have to put the ‘house full’ sign up well before the closing date for nominations.

“We are offering an early bird special of $220 per team from the opening day until January 10 and then $245 for teams that nominate after that, but in the past the field has filled up before this happens,” she said.

“We are urging locals who want to be a part of next year’s carnival to get on the website as soon as possible in the New Year and submit their entry to avoid missing out.”

Cross said while nomination numbers remain the same, the addition of a sixth court will make planning for the weekend easier.

She said the committee is also interested in hearing from people or groups who may be interested in setting up food stalls over the course of the weekend.

“All the information is available on our website,” she said.