The University of Florida is a far cry from the Forbes Botanical Gardens but come the end of August it will become home for middle distance runner, Jessica Pascoe, who realised her passion for running with the Forbes Little Athletics Club.

Jess showed great talent for the 1500 & 3000m events during her high school years but since graduating from Forbes High in 2014 has gone from strength to strength in Canberra where she is currently studying to become a PE/Mathematics teacher. The University of Florida scouted Jess through her results posted on the internet and first contacted her through Facebook. “It felt a bit weird when they first contacted me on Facebook,” Jess said. Jess and her father, Darren, recently made the trip to Los Angeles, then Orlando and finally Gainesville to experience everything one of the leading American Universities had to offer.

The facilities and scholarship was more than Jess had imagined or expected and made her decision to accept a four-year full scholarship with the Florida Gators Cross Country and Track Program. The scholarship will cover all the costs associated with her studies and the running program, including training apparel and shoes by Nike, she will enter alongside 20 other promising athletes from around the world. All of her food and travel expenses to Australian and International Competitions and Trials, where she will still compete as an Aussie, are also covered.

Jess was also surprised to find out that sports drink ‘Gatorade’ was designed there. The University have graciously allowed Jess to remain in Australia until she competes in the National Cross Country Championships on August 20.

By Anita Morrison

Around fifty riders from Canberra, Dubbo, Orange, Young, Bathurst and Condobolin converged on Forbes on Sunday May 22 for the first ever Forbes Flat Land Cyclo Sportif event organised by the Forbes Cycling Club. Both Chris Haggerty and Julianna Kneebone, from the Forbes Club were very happy with the numbers and were surprised at how far competitors were willing to travel to participate in the event.

The Forbes Aquatic Centre marked the start and finish of the race and riders began arriving at 6.30am to prepare for the start of the 120km course at 8.45am. Twelve riders completed the 120km with Michael Cooper from Dubbo crossing the finish line in 3 hours and 18 minutes, Tully Richards and Phil Tudor, both from Orange, were 2nd and 3rd.

The 72km event proved the most popular with almost 40 riders. There was a dead heat for first place with husband and wife team, Rob & Mel Webb from Young crossing together with a time of 2 hours 25 minutes. Third place went to Ian Morgan from Mudgee. Awards were also given for eldest and youngest male and female to finish in each event, as well as best families. Matt Hancock, member of the Forbes Cycling Club, said “There were a lot of families riding, so we did our best to acknowledge that on the day”. Andrew & Janet Norton
from Cudal took out the honours for oldest male and female to compete while Jessica Morgan-Thomas from Orange and Michael Shaw who works for Crowe Horwath in Forbes were the youngest female and male riders to finish.

Forbes Cycling Club members all contributed to the success of the event, each person did a specific job which utilised their unique skillset or area of expertise, Chris mentioned and they will commence planning for next year’s event in the coming months.

The Forbes Cycling Club have a membership of around 24 and encourage new members of all abilities to come along to their weekly rides on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. They meet in Harold Street at about 5.30pm and do a variety of courses of approximately 30kms which takes on average about 1-2 hours.
By Anita Morrison

Four competitors from Central West Kyokushin Karate Club participated in the Kyokushin NSW Full Contact Championships in Sydney on Sunday 22nd May, winning two state titles in their divisions. Representing the juniors were Rebecca Withers from Forbes and Kye Herft from Parkes and in the adults, Parkes locals Renae Herft and Natalie Caruana.

Rebecca and Kye fought in the full-contact children’s division; however modifications on the day were an obstacle as the students were not prepared for the style of fighting. Both students displayed outstanding skill and most importantly, excellent sportsmanship on the day. Their Sensei and coach, Michelle Kable said; “although the change in fighting rules was a bit of a setback, we will be able to adapt our techniques and approach for the next tournament. Both Kye and Rebecca are a credit to our club, and I am very proud of their efforts, and that they had the courage to
have a go.”

In the adult’s division Renae Herft, a white belt, showed true spirit with the makings of a future Australian Champion; persevering through numerous fouled punches to the face to win her division and take home the NSW State Championship title. Renae’s sister, Natalie Caruana, a more experienced martial artist has also only started Kyokushin Karate this year and was well prepared for the full contact fights. Dropping 5kg in the last month to make her weight division Natalie was able to maintain her strength and dominated her opponent with snapping head kicks, punches and powerful leg kicks to also win her division and take home the title of NSW State Champion – watch this space for great things to come!

The club are now preparing for the Australian National Championships in August. Michelle said; “The karate club is growing stronger – we breed them tough out here in the bush. We’re very proud of the courage shown on the weekend, with all fighters exhibiting great karate and outstanding sportsmanship. We were very lucky to have great support for the awesome foursome.”

Last weekend saw locals Justin and Mitch Roylance compete at Round 3 of the Australian V8 Superboat Championship in Temora in the Group A 400 class. Qualifying seen Mitch and navigator Matt Hearn in Blackjack at the top end of the field, after taking out 1st place at the previous meeting in April, they had the rest of the field
on their toes. Unfortunately Justin and his co pilot, Joel Duggan, B driving the Rampage boat had engine issues and found themselves at the bottom of the field in the Qualifying rounds.

Coming into eliminations Team Rampage found time to make a few changes to the engine, without any testing opportunity they were able to put down a good enough time to go through to the next round. Team Blackjack also laid down a blistering time allowing them to proceed. The next round of eliminations comprised of 6 teams which were 2 Obsessed (Brett Thornton), Rampage (Justin), Jack Hammer (David Moodie), Pangaea Floors Racing (Greg Harriman), Black Jack (Mitch Roylance) and the A Driver in Rampage (Jody Ely) these 6 battled it out to gain place in the top 3.

The final saw Brett and Lin Thornton in “2 Obsessed” take 1st. In 2nd place was Justin Roylance and Joel Duggan and Cowra team of David Moodie and Laura Pratt taking 3rd place.

The unlimited class was taken out by crowd favourite Phonsy Mullan in “Ramjet”, 2nd place was Darek Sygidus in”Frankenstein” and 3rd was Daryl “Nutsy” Hutton in “Hooters”. There has been fantastic local support for this sport and the teams. August and September sees racing head North to Cabarita Beach and back at Temora on the 1st & 29th October.

If you would like to know more about the V8 Superboat Championship, check out the teams on Facebook. www.v8superboats.com.au

By Justin Roylance