By Casey OÇonnor
Gold Coast proved tough to beat as thirty Polocrosse teams from across South Queensland descended on Killarney at the weekend for the 2023 Killarney Polocrosse carnival.
The Gold Coast club won two titles, including the top grade, and were in the top three in several other divisions in what organises described as an excellent weekend of competition with the Polocrosse grounds in great order.
The Carnival was well supported by a raft of local sponsors according to club secretary Robyn Cooper.
“The organising committee is really pleased with the way the weekend went considering this is the first time Killarney has hosted their own carnival on their own fields for a number of years,” Cooper said.
“It was a great response considering the Carnival fell between a big carnival in Albury NSW) the previous weekend and Barastoc in Warwick this weekend.”
Organisers were pleased to see a large crowd of spectators attending games across the weekend.
Competition was tough and the standard right across the grades high. Honours were shared among the clubs when it came to the finals.
The winners of the A Grade competition were Gold Coast One who defeated Warwick One in the final. In a tight game Gold Coast scored a 16-11 win.
Gold Coast had a great start to the weekend. In their opening game on Sunday they scored a 9-6 win over the home side Killarney. And went on to score a big 22-4 win over Wandoan.
The Warwick team scored a narrow win (17-16) over Tara in an early game on Saturday.
In the B Grade final Tansey One scored a nail-biting win 13-12 win over Killarney One.
Cunnigham One scored a 13-8 won over Warwick Three to take out the C Grade final.
Chinchilla Two played Gold Coast Four in the D Grade final and scored a 12-9 win.
The E Grade final was played between Cunningham Two and Tansey Three. The final score Cunningham 13 Tansey 12.
Gold Coast Five scored a 14-12 win over Warwick Four in the final of the D Grade competition.
The Warwick Junior team defeated Killarney Junior 14-12 to win the A Grade Junior competition. Killarney tied with Tara Gold Coast as runner’ sup in the junior event.
Leo Ellison was presented the Junior Patron Award.
With many players supporters and spectators camping at the ground on Saturday night the Yabbie Races certainly proved popular and a great fund raiser for the club.
It was the first time the Polocrosse club had hosted the Yabbie Racing and with a $1000 jackpot over two races there was certainly plenty of interest. The eight Yabbies in each race were auctioned prior to the event.
No word on who the lucky winners.
The winning and losing yabbies were well cared for after the event and safely returned to their place of origin.
It is likely this will become one of the annual highlights of the carnival.
Organisers were thrilled with the outcome of the weekend and wish to thank all those players who travelled with their horses to support the Carnival. A big thank you to the spectators, officials and volunteers and of course the many sponsors.
There will be more Polocrosse action in a few weeks when the Gold Coast Club hosts their annual carnival at the Killarney Polocrosse grounds. The GC carnival is scheduled for 27-28 May
