Wayne's water jump awaits the Mitsubishis
The Prestige Loans and Wealth Creation Wooroloo 3 Day Event kicks off today with the first horse inspection for the competitors taking part in the CCI and CCN classes. This event, which is held on the land of the Wooroloo Prison Farm approximately 50 minutes from Perth, runs from Friday to Monday for these competitors while EvA80 and EvA95 competitors complete their event on Sunday.
“It’s really important to attract the lower level competitors as well as running the 3 Day classes” explains Georgina Oakman from the organising committee “After all, in some years we only get two or three competitors at 3* level but the entry numbers overall ensure that we can run classes at all levels. We need to give Western Australian riders get the opportunity to compete and qualify at these higher levels so we work hard to make it happen”
This year however the entries are good; although there are only three in the CIC3* (including Olympian Sonja Johnson riding her top horse Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison), the CCI3* has six entries, nine in the CCI2*, 10 in the CIC2* and 14 in the CCI1*. International classes require international judges and Wooroloo has enticed members of the Ground Jury from around Australia and overseas, including Anne Tylee from New Zealand and Judith Hancock from the UK, who hopefully is not suffering from jet lag, having arrived on Wednesday
Despite the fact that the event takes place on prison farm land there is not a high barbed wire fence in sight; the minimum-security prison was established in 1972 under an arrangement that it would offer some of its amenities to the community of Wooroloo and the result for the eventing community was the use of part of the several hundred acres of farmland.
This property of beautiful rolling hills provides the perfect backdrop for the Wayne Copping designed cross country courses and an additional benefit of the location is the provision of 16 prisoners to help during the preparation of the event. Any event complaining about resources may be tempted to re-locate closer to a prison!
The title sponsor Prestige Loans and Wealth Creation is joined this year by another big name and one well known in eventing circles – Mitsubishi Motors. They are sponsoring several classes and have provided nine cars for use during the weekend including two which Wayne Copping is using as features at the water jump (shades of Badminton Horse Trials here maybe?). The organising committee has worked hard to attract retailers to the event and this year there are 42 trade stands ready to welcome the riders plus a bouncy castle for those more interested in bouncing around in a different way.
If you’re in the area, why not head down to Wooroloo this weekend to watch the eventing – the weather forecast is good and it sounds like there will be plenty going on. We’ll be bringing our 4* members a full report after the event and hopefully some snippets during the weekend so stay tuned!
Get ready to shop until you drop!
All photos courtesy Rebecca De Vries
