Sport
3 July, 2024
North West riders to show off skills at Mount Isa campdraft
There are four days of action at this year's campdraft event.
Only rain will put a stop to this weekend’s Mount Isa Campdraft as hundreds of competitors prepare to put their skills to the test at the Lagoon Park arena.
“We’re locked and loaded,” said event secretary Leeusha Finlay, who was keeping a close eye on the Bureau of Meteorology website
throughout the week.
“A light fall won’t worry us but last year we had to postpone it by a couple of weeks due to big rain.
“We have good, solid grounds that are safe for competitors so we don’t want any rain.”
The action actually starts today (Thursday) at lunchtime and will finish on Sunday afternoon.
“Our nominations are really good and we usually have about 250 competitors in the campdraft events and 30 to 50 for the rodeo, which is on Saturday night,” said Ms Finlay.
She said the highlights on the program would be the restricted open and stallions draft tonight – “fellas who have been around a few times and know what they are doing” – while Friday night’s team draft is popular with spectators.
“The teams event is a fun one to watch because it’s three people going at one time with one beast,” Ms Finlay said.
Located on the outskirts of Mount Isa, the campdraft grounds are well established and EFTPOS facilities will be available for those wanting to buy food and drinks.
“We’ve got great sponsors and entry is free because we want to see locals come down and support the riders,” the secretary said.
“We’ve put the campdraft on Google Maps so people can find it easily.”
To get there, travel south along Duchess Road and turn left onto Bendall Drive before the Harvey Norman warehouse.