Sandra Atkins competing at Gawler
A while ago Anna Hayward contacted us about a remarkable lady called Sandra Atkins. “Sandra is amazing and has been the driving force behind Northern Tasmanian Eventing Club (NTEC) for many years. But her story goes well beyond her work for NTEC and I think it would be wonderful for her to get a bit of credit for all the work she has done for equestrian sports in Tasmania.”
Tasmanian, Sandra Atkins, may not have started riding until she was 21 (when she met her future husband Owen) but she certainly made up for lost time.
At this point we should add that Sandra began riding back in the 1960’s, so as she made her way up the eventing ladder in the 70’s and 80’s it was still in the days when there was no sponsorship, especially for Tasmanians. In an effort to ride against the ‘top riders’ of the day Sandra had to make the trip over that stretch of water to compete at the big events alongside the likes of Barry Roycroft.
“The Northern Hunt Club had an evening late last year where Barry and Lyn Roycroft were guest speakers and it was fantastic to hear Barry and Sandra speak of the financial challenges associated in competing in the 70s and 80s,” Anna told us.
Trips were made and in the photo above you can see Sandra competing at Gawler 3 Day Event.
Of course by now you will have realised that Sandra is the mother of event rider Peter Atkins, who came to the forefront of Australian eventing when he represented his country at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. Both Sandra and her husband Owen made the trip over to WEG to proudly watch their son (who finished the second highest of all the Australian riders) compete. There is no doubt Peter’s parents are extremely proud of their sons achievements.
Watch some footage from Peter at WEG below
Over the years Sandra has instructed and helped at Hunting club, Pony Clubs, Riding Clubs and is basically always happy to help anyone or any organization who needs a hand. She has done all this while coping with three hip replacements and two knee operations but it would seem that nothing can slow this super woman down.
Along with her other commitments Sandra is also the course designer at the Quercus Park course, Carrick, Tasmania and last year when NTEC won the Equestrian Tasmania Sports Award /Club of the Year Sandra deservingly won the Volunteer of the Year award.
“Most of the work that was done on the Quercus course in the weeks leading up to last years second event was done by Sandra and Owen,” Anna said. “They built fences, cleared some bush land and in the process added a preliminary course. That’s an impressive thing for any two people to do but given the fact that both Sandra and Owen are in their early seventies it’s very impressive!”
Sandra competing at Quercus
After designing and building the course Sandra took great delight in competing in introductory class at the NTEC event.
It also looks as if the family tradition of getting out their to help is set to continue with Steven’s son Justyn helping his dad build some of the portable fences used on the cross country course. Meanwhile Seven’s daughter, Hayley, is one of Tasmania’s top young riders and has competed not just in Tasmania but on the mainland through Pony Club and School competitions.
We look forward to bringing you more Tasmania eventing news in our coverage of 2014 events and with people like Sandra and Owen involved we’re sure that eventing will keep going strong in Tasmania for many years to come.
With many thanks to Anna Hayward who helped us put this article together - we hope it's not too much of a surprise to Sandra who, as you can guess, tends to keep pretty quiet about her achievements.
