Tom Quilty Gold Cup starts tonight (7 June) – winner due at Kilkivan showground lunchtime tomorrow (8 June)

More than 250 of Australia’s fittest horses and riders head out on the first leg of the annual Australian Endurance Riding Championships – the Tom Quilty Gold Cup – tonight at Kilkivan in south-east Queensland.

The winner is expected to cross the finish line at the Kilkivan showground (Mudlo Road) around midday tomorrow (Saturday June 8). 
 
Competitors aim to complete the five legs of the 160km course within 24 hours, pass the final vet check, and receive an esteemed silver Quilty Buckle – considered by recipients to be equivalent to an Olympic gold medal in recognition of their skill as a horseman or horsewoman.
 
The Tom Quilty Gold Cup is awarded to the overall winner who will be this sport’s new national champion.

The Quilty begins at midnight tonight, and finishes at midnight tomorrow (June 8). Each leg of this iconic endurance ride starts and finishes at the Kilkivan showground, with the third leg of the rigorous track covering part of the Cobb & Co Heritage Trail.

Depending on weather and course conditions, the first riders will take between nine and 14 hours to complete the course and are expected to begin crossing the finish line from around midday on Saturday June 8.
 
The award presentations will be made on Sunday morning June 9.

This event is a true test of genuine horsemanship. A key skill for competitors is to know when to ride fast, and when to slow down to conserve the energy of their horses, thereby achieving maximum speed over the entire distance.  
 
This year is the 48th Quilty. The long distance horse ride, started by R. M. Williams in 1966, is hosted by a different state each year.
 
This year’s participants from across Australia include current Australian champion, Brook Sample, who has six Quilty wins to his name (an unmatched Australian endurance record), nine international riders (from the UK, U.S., Japan and New Zealand) and18 juniors (aged 12 to 17 this year).

Brook, 38, of Kenilworth hopes to make the Kilkivan Quilty his seventh Australian championship victory and also his first on home territory. Riding alongside him this year is Brook’s wife, Leigh Ann Sample, and his dad, Bob Sample, 74, of Cooroy.
 
The youngest rider in this year’s Quilty is Alissa Wood, 11, of Toowoomba, and the oldest is Alwyn Torenbeek, 76, of Rockhampton. Jennifer Gilbertson, of Webbs Creek, NSW, will be among the riders. She has completed 30,000km in 366 endurance competitions – the first Aussie to achieve this new benchmark. 

The Tom Quilty Gold Cup goes to the first heavyweight or middleweight division competitor to successfully complete the ride.
 
According to the sport’s motto – ‘to complete is to win’ – each rider who finishes the course within 24 hours, and whose horse is deemed ‘fit to continue’, receives a coveted Quilty Buckle.
 
There also are awards for Best Conditioned Horse in each weight division (heavyweight, middleweight, lightweight, junior), Top Ten, and first over the line in each weight division. The Shareym Memorial Award goes to the owner of the first middleweight or heavyweight horse with the most Quilty Buckles to its credit, including this year’s Quilty.
 
Spectators are welcome to attend the event at the Quilty’s base at Kilkivan showground from June 7-9 (www.kilkivanquilty.com).

Tourism and Events Queensland has supported this year’s Tom Quilty Gold Cup.

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