QUEENSLAND'S polocrosse season started in spectacular form at Warwick over the Easter weekend with 492 horses and riders competing over three days of state representative and two days of club level polocrosse games.
Hosted at Morgan Park by Warwick Polocrosse Club, the first carnival of Queensland’s Polocrosse season was well attended with the carnival attracting 82 teams.
The polocrosse enthusiasts, their horses and support crew collectively travelled thousands of kilometres to take to the field with some from as far away as the Northern Territory in the North and Young, New South Wales in the South.
Seventeen teams of six players from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria took to the field to do battle for state pride at the 7th annual Barastoc Interstate Series. The Barastoc Interstate Series comprised of 8 different levels of competition: Mens, Womens, Under 21 Mens, Under 21 Womens, Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Mixed Masters and Mixed Under 30’s. The Mixed Under 30’s was a new inclusion to the competition and was the first time this level had been played in Australia.
New South Wales dominated the Interstate Series, clinching victory in 7 of the 8 divisions, including the Men’s and Women’s interstate competitions. The Junior Girls team was the only team to secure a win for Queensland.
A further 65 club teams competed in the Shell Cup and club competition, where, in a replay of last year, host club Warwick beat Wandoan in a battle that saw Warwick hang on in the dying minutes of the game to take out the Shell Cup by just one point.
Warwick Polocrosse Club president Les Fraser said it was a big roll-up for the first carnival of Queensland’s polocrosse season.
He said the competition was strong as representative players used this as a warm-up for attending the National Titles in Darwin in July.
“It was a good hit-out for representative players, coaches and team managers to see how players and horses were performing in the lead up to the nationals,” Mr Fraser said.
An estimated 3500 spectators passed through the gates over the three days to cheer on their favourite teams and riders.