CHILTERN rodeo organisers have been forced to cancel Sunday’s event because the racecourse is still soaked and soft.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A disappointed rodeo president, Kelvin Duke, said yesterday he wasn’t prepared to take risks with the safety of competitors and others involved.
This is the third consecutive year that rain had hit the rodeo, which is run at the Chiltern racecourse reserve.
“We’ve had 14 or 15 inches of rain,” Mr Duke said.
“Even though it’s sunny today, there’s more rain coming at the weekend.
“I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
Going ahead would have risked stock trucks getting bogged and in any case, the stock yards were too soft to be suitable.
Sunday’s event would have been the 17th annual rodeo but a full event hasn’t been held since 2009.
In 2010 it was washed out and last year only 1500 people turned up to an event curtailed by wet weather.
Mr Duke said a record 327 riders from many parts of Australia had registered this year.
“We were expecting a crowd of 2500,” he said.
The nature of the rodeo circuit makes it difficult to reschedule in the same year and Chiltern will now look ahead to March next year.