Carolyn Blakeley from Jerrawa with her Horse team.
The NSW Combined Driving Championships took place at Gundagai Showgrounds from October 23rd to 26th, showcasing more than 40 entrants from NSW, QLD and Victoria as they competed in carriage driving. The event featured three phases, including dressage on Friday, marathon on Saturday, and cones on Sunday, culminating in the final awards presentation on Sunday afternoon.
Peter Dunn, Federal Vice President of the Australian Carriage Driving Society, says the event was very successful.
“It was a great success, even though there was rain on Sunday, a few of us got soaked doing the course, but it is an outdoor sport, so it is what it is.”
“But overall, the event was a good success. The facilities in Gundagai are second to none; the showground is tremendous.”
“We had entries from Victoria and Queensland as well as the main number from NSW, and they were from all over NSW, such as out Tamworth way, out west from Gulgong, some from Sydney and locals from this area too,” Peter said.
“We had a couple of VSE’s which stands for ‘Very Small Equines’, we had small ponies, large ponies, horses. We had about 3 or 4 pair groups with two horses pulling a carriage. And we had a team of standardbreds, who are from near Yass. They did really well. They must thread their way through the obstacles, and it is very difficult to drive those.”
The Society have held the State Championships three times at Gundagai Showground over the last few years, including 2019, 2023 and 2025. However, Peter thinks they have held older events there many years ago as there are remnants of obstacles out on the commons still nowadays.
“The sport used to be big, but we are still trying to build it back up. Things are getting a bit tighter these days, the money to travel as well as the cost of the competition, and the feed for horses, that is all very dear,” Peter said.
The weekend saw some wins from local competitors, including Debbie Dunn from Tumut, who was the State Champion in her class.
Other Tumut representatives included Nikki Flynn, Debbie Dunn and Peter Dunn.
“I came third in my class and Nikki came second in her class, so the locals did pretty well,” said Peter. Peter says the highlight of the weekend was seeing everyone enjoying themselves.
“Just seeing everyone enjoying themselves with their horses getting about, and the camaraderie between competitors. It is a very friendly sport, everyone gets on really well and helps others, because there are a lot of new drivers as well, and so all the older competitors who have been doing it for years help them out and show them how to do things properly, so it is really good and that is the highlight,” Peter said.
The Society would like to thank their sponsors for helping them put on such a successful event. “Cootamundra-Gundagai Council were our major sponsor, and they were really good and helpful, because it does cost a fair bit of money to run these events and it is a lot of work too,” Peter said.
The Society have a few events coming up between now and Christmas.
“We are going to a two-day event in Longwood near Seymour in Victoria, so it is usually a pretty big event. Then we have the Battle on the Border, which is just near Holbrook and it is usually a very big event. It is probably one of the biggest we have in Australia these days. It is on a big, flash property out at Mullengandra and it is done up nice. It is free for the public, they also have stalls and food vans,” said Peter.
“Usually, for that event we will have entries come across from WA as well. The last couple of years they’ve had about 80 entries, and it is also across three days.”
– Emily Flint
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