{"id":95199,"date":"2015-02-04T23:44:47","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T13:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=95199"},"modified":"2020-08-20T09:59:21","modified_gmt":"2020-08-19T23:59:21","slug":"riders-beat-the-blackbutt-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/02\/04\/riders-beat-the-blackbutt-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"Riders Beat The Blackbutt Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Joint Middleweight Division winner in the 80km ride – and Best Conditioned winner – was Simone Krahnen on Ardai\u00a0(Photos: Denise Keelan Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

February 5, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

An influx of endurance riders, their horses and support teams gave Blackbutt a mini-economic boost at the weekend.<\/p>\n

The Blackbutt Heritage Endurance Ride attracted 141 nominations from all over south-east Queensland and northern NSW.<\/p>\n

It was organised by the\u00a0South Burnett Endurance Riders and sponsored by the Heritage Bank branch in Nanango.<\/p>\n

Club treasurer Ruth Dixon said for every rider there were at least two or three support people, and they all went into Blackbutt on Saturday to vote.<\/p>\n

The ride is the first of three the club has planned for this year, dubbed “the Lunar Series” because they’re all being held under a bright moon.<\/p>\n

The next ride will be on May 30 followed by an overnight ride on September 19-20.<\/p>\n

Ruth said Saturday’s event featured an 80km competitive ride, which started a 3:00pm, plus two non-competitive events: a 50km ride and a 20km ride which are “speed limited”, ie entrants cannot ride faster than 14km\/h.<\/p>\n

On Sunday morning there was a 5km “Tiny Tots” event which started at 6:30am.<\/p>\n

The non-competitive rides were open to all-comers, but entrants in the more gruelling 80km ride have to be members of the Queensland Endurance Riders Association and have completed at least two 40km rides recently.<\/p>\n

The 80km ride was also divided into four divisions – Heavyweight, Middleweight, Lightweight and Junior – based on the combined weight of the rider, saddle, saddle blanket and helmet. Riders are weighed in at the start and end of the event.<\/p>\n

Ruth said it was an extremely hot day – the temperature topped 33 degrees C – which could take a heavy toll on horses and riders.<\/p>\n

However, there were four vets in attendance and water was available every seven kilometres for the horses. Strapping water to wash down the horses was also available.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The riders weren’t forgotten, either, with bottled water and mangoes distributed along the route.<\/p>\n

The 80km route left the Blackbutt Showgrounds and headed six kilometres up the Rail Trail and then into tracks within the Benarkin State Forest before returning down the Rail Trail.<\/p>\n

It was run in three legs, with the horses checked by vets at the end of each stage before being allowed to continue.<\/p>\n

“We had an 88 per cent completion rate which was wonderful considering it was a very hot day,” Ruth said.<\/p>\n

At the end of the 80km, the top five horses in each division were then examined extra closely by vets to select the “Best Conditioned” horse in each group.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0South Burnett Endurance Riders would like to thank the sponsors who helped with the ride:<\/strong><\/p>\n