Interclub Challenge Day at Rossmore

August 2007
It was the turn of the Hills Club to run the Interclub Challenge Day this year. This event has been going on since the late 1970s. It started between the Hills and Illawarra (later Camden) Clubs as an annual event held in the Biffins’ Cawdor Paddock. These clubs were soon joined by Southern Highlands and the three clubs now take it in turns to run the Challenge Day each winter.

There were 21 competitors this year vying for glory in show driving, thread the needle, walking, cones, barrels, stand up the cones and bending races. Most of these were set up around the spacious Rossmore Park grounds, manned by stewards and ready for action after the 9.30 am start.

The Hills Club was represented by 14 drivers, almost all in the two pony groups under 12 hands. Camden had 5 drivers, mostly with big ponies and horses, whilst there were two Southern Highlands drivers, with a big pony and a horse.
The day started with the show classes. The winners here were Sara Pearson (Hills) with Tyson, Kathie Turner (Hills) with Boo, Betty Lyons (Camden) with Ben and Louise Lyons (Camden ) with Gumpy. The judge, Jenny Fawbert from Oakville, was impressed by the quality of the exhibits. Kath Smith was the very efficient show steward.

Drivers were then able to scatter across the Park to do their runs for the various sporting and novelty events. Joy Harris, a well known seamstress in the Hills Club, was in charge of the Thread the Needle event. She had plenty of laughs watching the range of attempts to get the needle threaded, mostly by males. Clive King was much sought after as a good needle threader whilst the skills of Eddie Dobbin and Barry McGregor were also called upon with mixed success. Someone even gave up and tried to ‘fake’ a threaded needle, such was the seriousness of the competition !

The Stand Up the Cones was another event which proved frustrating to some drivers. Pat Hughes was in charge here. The idea is for the driver to use the whip to stand up about ten cones that are scattered across an area, as quickly as possible. Many cones were successfully righted, only to be knocked over again by the horse or vehicle. Belinda Casper with Houston proved to be the best at this tricky event.

There were only four clear rounds in the Cones. Max Smith was the judge, with Ron Bostock looking after measured cones, and Rosemary Magro and Jessica Casper timing and recording. The long course flowed across the undulating centre of the Park.
The other morning event was the Walking Race – a timed individual walk of about 150 metres, under the eye and stop watch of Helen Copeland. The afternoon events were the Bending Race timed by Kath Smith and Janet Muspratt in two lanes and the Barrels Race, with Max Smith, Helen Copeland and Joy Harris officiating. The driving day unfortunately finished for Mima Ware and Kay Rose in this event with a roll over, but there were many competent hands on deck to help with first aid and look after Jasper and his vehicle. After a rather long wait for the Ambulance, Kay went off to hospital with a broken arm. Many thanks must go to the people who came to the aid of Mima and Kay, to those who took charge of the pony and vehicle, including loading up, to the people who kept up communication by mobile phone with the ambulance call centre, and to the others who went to the gate to let the ambulance in. It all seemed to happen in such a practical way. Finally a big thank you to Greg McDonald who drove Mima home, and Martyn Minns who brought him back.
The day ended with the presentation of laminated certificates for the winners and placegetters in the sporting and novelty events made by Hills President Dennis Casper, who had been the tireless scorer for the day. The trophy winners were then announced.

They were:
The Spokesman High Point Trophy: Tony James with Jack
Junior Trophy: Kimberlee McGregor with Julius
Best Club Average: Southern Highlands
High Point Club Trophy: Hills
Hills Shield: Kathy Turner with Boo
Camden Shield: Louise Lyons with Gumpy
Congratulations everyone !
-Janet Muspratt