[RC] The Tom Quilty Gold Cup.... part 1 - Jay Randle
Hi All
The Tom Quilty Gold Cup ride over 160km (100 miles) commences at 4am next Saturday morning (20th September). This is the Australian National Championship ride, and is one of the premier 100 mile rides in the world.
Unlike the Tevis Cup, the Quilty rotates around the states of Australia each year, meaning that each state hosts the Quilty once every 6 years. I live in Queensland, which is the northeast quarter of Australia, and our last Quilty was in 2006. So we weren't expecting the Quilty to return here until 2012.
BUT..... Australia got hit with the Equine Influenza epidemic last year, and that kind of stuffed things around a bit! The Quilty was supposed to be held in the southern state of Victoria this year, but the EI bug really caused a lot of grief and heartache, and the Victorian ride organising committee decided that they just could not continue with their plans with everything being in such disarray. So, luckily, a small band of people from the small town of Nanango, Queensland, applied for the opportunity to hold the 2008 Tom Quilty Gold Cup.
This group had hosted a very successful 160km ride in June 2007, and the infrastructure of the ride base, as well as the track, had been tried and tested, coming through with flying colours! So, bravely, from 1 March this year, this committee started planning for the 2008 Quilty. Normally it takes 2-3 years to organise the Quilty as, unlike the Tevis, the track changes every year.
In order to ride the Quilty, every rider must prove their ability by completing a 160km ride BEFORE they can enter the Quilty! And in order to enter any 160km ride in Australia, each rider must have already completed 3 x 80km (50 mile) rides. So, the qualification process for riders wishing to enter the Quilty is quite strict. As you can imagine, all riders in Queensland have spent 2008 trying to qualify for this unexpected 2008 Queensland Quilty.
And now the 2008 Quilty is fast approaching! AND.... Nanango is only a 2 hour drive from Splendacrest! BONUS!
I had been planning on taking 3 or 4 horses to the Quilty in Victoria this year (a 3 day drive), but now I can take more! Since the announcement that the 2008 Quilty would be held in Qld, the entire year of competition has been building to this point. So, at this stage, I am taking 12 horses to the Nanango Quilty. Am I crazy, you ask?
