THE Oberon rodeo returned for another year on Saturday with an expanded competition, following last year’s first event in the town for more than a decade.
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With 20 events on the cards, the day drew entrants from as far as Townsville in Queensland. Entries were tallied at 240, up around 50 from the event last year.
In the strongest showing for the region’s riders, Rockley’s Brett Hanrahan came agonisingly close to victory in the feature Rod Brien Memorial Bull Ride, missing out by just a single point.
The event is already showing strong signs of growth, enjoying consistent crowd figures and a boost in entry numbers, according to Oberon Rodeo Association president Mark Hotham.
“[It was] fairly similar crowd numbers to last year. A bit more would have been nice, though you get what you get, but rider entries were extremely good,” he said.
Hotham said Hanrahan’s high finish was the highlight from the event, especially as he was the best local chance of the day.
“Brett finished second in the memorial ride. I think he’s still got to be happy with that. He did excellent,” he said.
“There’s a few young local guys coming through, but they’ve got plenty of time left ahead of them.”
Hanrahan finished on 81 points riding Silver Back, a point shy of Matt Esposito, who scored 82 on Novacane.
Association secretary Bree Rowlandson said the fact the event fell on the same weekend as the Gundagai meeting worked well for both towns.
“We had a great standard of riders, with a lot of the top-seeded competitors coming to compete as they were chasing points for the national finals to be held in January in Tamworth,” she said.
“We had to accommodate a lot of competitors that were wanting to compete at both rodeos on the day. Compared to last year, if anything the clash boosted numbers.”
Rowlandson said there were other success stories from riders in the region.
“Tom Kable from Rydal came third in the 8-U11 steer ride and Hugh Treanor won the Geoff Maher Memorial Local Steer ride,” she said.
A dedicated contingent stayed for post-event entertainment even with the weather turning against them.
“There was a small crowd that stayed behind for entertainment after the rodeo. Weather wasn’t in our favour, as it turned quite cold in the night,” Rowlandson said.
“The Oberon Rodeo Association would like to extend a massive thank you to the Rockley Rodeo Committee members that came and helped us on the day. Our committee looks forward to reciprocating for their rodeo in March.
“We will definitely be back next year with a bigger and better event.”
