Venue Change for Iconic Endurance Event

The South Australia's Tom Quilty committee has announced a change of venue and date for the 2011 Tom Quilty Gold Cup. This year's event, now known as the Barossa Ranges Tom Quilty Gold Cup, will provide a challenging new course for participants.

The event will commence at midnight on Friday, September 30th 2011 and continue through Saturday, October 1st. Event Director Sarah Adams said that there will be an away check point and riders will experience changing terrain as the course traverses Mt Crawford State forest, vineyards and pastures. The second and potentially most challenging leg will be through pine forests, then onto private land owned by the Ross family (by kind permission). The ride base will be at Mt Pleasant which hosts annually a large agricultural show in addition to many livestock and horse events. One of the best scenic routes in the State runs through Mount Pleasant, linking Adelaide with the Barossa via the rich pastoral lands, forestry and the wine areas of Springton and Eden Valley close to Mt. Pleasant. {sidebar id=3}Land was first purchased for forestry at Mount Crawford in 1909. Plantings commenced in 1914; two species of eucalypts (Narrow-leaved Ironbark and South Australian Blue gum) and two species of pine (Radiata and Maritime pine) which creates a fantastic horse riding environment. The current reserve area is in the region of 12,000 hectares. Further announcements will follow as plans are finalised for the test event, the South Australian State Championships and FEI 1* featuring the Trans Tasman and Young Horse Qualifier (sponsored by Castlebar) which takes place later this year on October 8th–10th. Please refer to the SA Tom Quilty website for the most up-to-date information as it becomes available.