Australia: Tom Quilty Endurance ride this weekend

Abc.net.au

By Jane Paterson

Friday, 19/09/2008

Nanango State Forest, a couple of hundred kilometres north-west of Brisbane is the setting for the annual Tom Quilty endurance ride this weekend.

Around 200 competitors will saddle up for the Australia's number one endurance ride which kicks off at 4am tomorrow.

The 160-kilometre ride has attracted horsemen from the United States, Japan and New Zealand as well as Australia's elite endurance riders.

Tom Quilty was born at Normanton in 188, he was said to be "Robust and energetic", honing his horsemanship by riding with a band of wild young stockmen known as the 'Forest Devils'.

Quilty was an outstanding cattleman, an authority on northern Australia, a skilled 'poddy-dodger' and 'a bit of a menace' to his neighbours.

In 1966 he donated the Tom Quilty Gold Cup for what has become the national endurance-riding championship.

President of the Nanango Heritage Endurance Riders Association Barbara Timms says the event has been six months in the planning and of the over 200 horses registered to start, around two-thirds will probably finish.

In this report:
Barbara Timms, one of the organisers, Tom Quilty Cup, 2008.