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Forbes Phoenix

COLLITS AND CHANDLER BEAT THE WET

June 30, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

The ground conditions at the Forbes Golf Club made it a very challenging weekend, but the golfers battled well to record some good scores. On Saturday the programmed 4BBB Stroke Championship was reverted to an Individual Medley Stableford, contested by 42 players.

In the A-division, Mark Collits played steady golf by hitting the dry spots on the fairway, and hitting the greens on cue. His nett 72 earned him 36 points and the win, but he only won on countback. Lee Grierson was very unlucky to finish second. He had the same scratch and nett scores but missed any points on the 13th.

The B-division was won by Bruce Chandler with 36 points. Not far behind was Ron Morris with 33 points. The Ball Sweep went to 32 points on count back, and included: 34 – C Dwyer, M Cahill, M Hayley; 33 – D Churchill, Alf Davies, M Browne and S Sallaway. Both the NTP’s went to Peter Barnes. But he did not get a ‘2’ on either hole. There was only one ‘2’ recorded all day by Frank
Hanns on the 3rd. Chip-ins are pretty commonplace now, mainly to overcome the wet greens. Both Andrew Dukes and Lee Grierson chipped in on the 16th to down their Keno opponents – the two red-heads. And Stevie G managed a chip-in from behind the 4th green to win a hole for his team. Andy Cogswell played a chip from well behind the 18th to salvage par.

Sunday’s golf was a Stableford Medley. Barb Drabsch was the winner with 35 points. Once again Ron Morris finished second, on count back, with 33 points. The ball sweep went to 33 points and rewarded Craig Barrett and Scott Kirkman for their diligent play. The NTP’s went to: 9th – Ray Taylor, and 18th – Na. Ray snared the only ‘2’ of the day, on the 9th of course.

Contributed by Short Putt

Golfing For Can Assist

June 23, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

Phil Maher Retrieving Ball comp

On Saturday 11th June the CanAssist Golf Charity Day was held. The four person Ambrose event brought a competition spirit and lots of fun to the venue and a good field of 114 players assembled from Forbes and other local districts, with some players coming as far as Queensland, Sydney and Victoria.

The Handicap Winners were J Tranter, S Tranter, D Herbert and M Sykes with a 55 nett. The Scratch winners were G West, D West, J Denamiel and S West with 64. Overall, nett scores were very close. Once again the contribution by sponsors, players and donations was exceptional, with over $2,500 being raised. This will help support local cancer patients in their battle to gain health.

On Sunday and Monday a Stableford Medley was played each day. Fields were slightly down, but each day was well contested. Sunday’s winner was Lee Grierson with 38 points, on count back from Ray Taylor who also had 38 points and Monday’s winner was Doug Churchill with 39 points. This also was a count back win, with Phil Maher coming in second with his 39. Phil took the greatest honours for the day though, scoring a hole-in-one on the 18th. He used a 6-iron to land the ball short and have it bounce onto the green and run
into the hole. Both he and the shot are elegance personified!

This shot ensured he got the ‘Nearest the Pin’ on that hole. Tomorrow will be the Daine Doolin Memorial event, which is a 4BBB Stableford Medley.

Contributed by Short Putt

Forbes Swimming Clubhouse Revamp

June 23, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

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The Forbes Swimming Club has been awarded $10,300 in funding to upgrade their clubhouse. The clubhouse is currently the old canteen based at the pool and at the current time is not weatherproof. The building is quite run down and a long way from ideal for what it is being used for, so the funding will be a great help. The money came from the Stronger Communities program
which funds small capital projects in local communities.

The funding will allow the club to line the shed to ensure it is weather proof and protects the club’s valuable equipment and ensure it meets modern WHS standards and provides a safe and healthy environment for volunteers. It will also be used to install a small kitchenette that meets food safety standards, install a hot water service and fully repaint the facility.The club’s treasurer is Janelle McManus and she can be contacted on 0458 685 711.

Red Bend Rides Through Rain At Coonabarabran

June 16, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

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A total of nine riders from Red Bend entered the North West Equestrian Expo at Coonabarabran for Secondary Schools encompassing Years 7 to 12 competing in various events over five wet and muddy days. Friday competition saw the holding of Dressage for One Day Event and Novice Freestyle dressage as an Exhibition event across two arena’s. Lizzie Wythes competed in the Novice Freestyle and finished 6th in her arena.

Sunday competition results which also included events from Saturday for Combined Training – Dressage & Show Jumping, Eventing – Dressage, Show jumping & cross country. Prue Baker, Forbes – 9th CT5. Katie Townsend, Eugowra – 4th D Grade Eventing, Division 1. Emily Phillips, Forbes – 9th CT2 Division 1. Jack Turner, Parkes – 8th D Grade Eventing Division 1 Kristen Grady, Parkes – 9th CT3 Division 2 Lizzie Wythes, Parkes – 5th CT5 Dana Wales and Jack Turner from Parkes also competed in the Working Horse Challenge, which is made up of a number of challenges for both handler and horse.

Monday events consisted of individual Dressage and Show Jumping competition as well as Sporting events. Lizzie Wythes 5th Dressage Prelim 1:2. Katie Townsend 4th Age Show jumping Monday’s evening entertainment was the Teams Barrel Race and is great to watch and everyone had a great time. RBCC had two teams entered and consisted of Katie, Prue, Kristen, Emily, Grace and Jack. Each rider posted some great times either the fastest or slowest. Our fastest competitor was Katie.

Tuesday’s competition was Show riding and Team Penning. We had five riders compete in their prospective Show riding classes, Prue, Katie, Grace, Jack & Lizzie with Team Penning consisting of Kristen, Dana & Emily who were unfortunate not to place but definitely had great fun.

Results for the show riding were; Grace Ross – 3rd Show Pony, Prue Baker was unfortunate not to place but was in her rider class finals, Lizzie Wythes – 1st Open Show horse, Rider class, Champion Ridden Lightweight & Champion rider.

Magpies Look To Improve Focus

June 16, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

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With the second half of the 2016 Group 11 season already upon us, the Forbes Magpies will look at importing their discipline and concentration, after losing two games that could easily have been won.

With round seven being a split round, the Magpies will rest this weekend after playing the first half of round seven last weekend in their 28-22 loss to the Parkes Spacemen, with the teams who rested last weekend playing this weekend.

With round seven yet to be completed, the Magpies currently sit in fourth position on the ladder, however with two extra wins, they could easily have found themselves in outright second position.

These two wins could have come from their matches against Parkes last week, and their match against Nyngan on May 29. They turned on a terrible first half against Nyngan, trailing 30-10 at half time, but came back in the second stanza to lead 32-30. But they then conceded a try in the dying seconds to lose 36-32.

It was the opposite story against Parkes, getting off to a blinding start to lead 18-0, before letting go of their grip and losing 28- 22. Magpies President Greg Grogan said the players would be working their consistency in games. “I think Coach Jake Grace will be looking at their attitude and discipline so the boys can play for the full 80 minutes again,” he said.

“At the end of the pre-season we expected to be in the top three or top four, which is where we are at the moment, but we could easily be in the top two.” Grogan said the rest this weekend was good to allow injured players, including captain/coach Grace, the chance to recover before taking the field again against Dubbo Westside in round eight on June 26.

While Westside hasn’t had the greatest season to date, Grogan said it would be important for the Magpies not to get too complacent. He added that his side would be boosted by the return of more players from injury, however.

By Joshua Matic.

Jess Accepts Florida Offer

June 9, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

JP 3

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

Red Bend Excels In Country Cup

June 9, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

3.  Thomas Toohey

Both Red Bend Catholic College Opens and Fifteens teams had convincing wins recently in the Western Final of the Country Cup. The opens had a big 40-4 win over St Johns. Always in control they showed some great combinations in attack and defence.

The Man of the Match was the versatile Jye Dillon who started in the centres and ended up in the front row. The Fifteens scored the first try, however St Johns (Dubbo) fought back strongly, with the College leading 10-6 at half time.

The second half saw the Red Bend team show some great teamwork in scoring four great tries to eventually run out winners 30-6. The Man of the Match was
half back Thomas Toohey. The College has a proud history in the Country Cup winning the Opens and Under Thirteens age division twice previously, while the Opens were runners-up in the final last year. The teams now travel to Cootamundra next term on the 28th of July for the Southern Finals, where they will play the winners from the Riverina, Wollongong, Canberra and South Coast regions.

The Country Cup is run by the Country Rugby League (CRL) and the NRL. It is an All Schools Event for Country Schools (State Catholic Private) that is contested in three age divisions under 13’s and 15’s, and Opens Schools
attend regional gala days with the winners progressing through to regional finals. Winners of the region then progress through to play in the Southern or Northern Finals from here the Southern and Northern winners play the State Final.

Forbes Flat Land Cyclo Sportif A Success

June 2, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

 

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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

Success in Forbes Golf Mixed Foursomes

June 2, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

On Sunday 29 May the Forbes Golf Open, held the annual 27-hole Mixed Foursomes event. A good field of 16 pairings enjoyed the contest. The Scratch Winners were Lee and Sharon Grierson, with 127. The Handicap Winners were Andy Cogswell and Christine Davies with 108 ½ nett, while Runners-up were Dave Rhodes and Verna Lane on 109 nett.

Doug Churchill and Pat Jones also picked up a ball, The NTP’s went to: 9th – E Coombs and 18th: L Grierson. Some pairings had good fortune, while others had one calamity after another all day.

On Saturday 28 May the Mens competition was for the Wilf Hodges Memorial Trophy. There was a strong pool of contenders with a tight group at the top. The Overall winner was Ron Morris, with 41 points. The A-division was won by Phil Maher with 40 points, on count back from Paul Pymont with 40 points. The B-division went to Ron Morris, while Al Rees was runner-up with 35 points.

The “CanAssist” Charity Golf Day is set for Saturday 11 June, so get your name onto the starting sheet now.

Contributed by Short Putt

Local Fighters Win Karate State Championships

May 26, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

CWKK (2)

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.”

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