TENTPEGGING
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TWO Tamworth horsemen have been representing Australia in the Middle East lately and have now returned home to compete for Tamworth at the Royal Easter Show.
Barry Biffin finished fourth in the World Tentpegging Championships, while compatriot Bryson Roser also tasted success.
The two were part of the five person Australian tentpegging team that competed against nine other nations at Al Rahba Farm in Muscat, Oman.
To qualify for the World Championships the Australians competed in the International Tentpegging Tournament in Pakistan last month.
The Aussies finished in the top five there with some great riding and found themselves on the way to Oman to compete against the world’s best.
That was Roser’s debut tournament for his country, after converting to the sport from endurance.
The championships consisted of nine different disciplines, ranging from individual to team events, including sword and lance events.
Both Biffin and Roser scored all possible in a couple of events, but were beaten in run-offs with the other riders that got all possible.
Biffin was in one run-off for gold, but had slid to fifth by the end.
Biffin didn’t place in any events but consistently finished in the top echelon of riders to come fourth overall.
Roser also got a fifth after being in a run-off for silver in both the lance and sword.
Tentpegging is a huge sport in the Middle East.
“The tournament is on the back page and sometimes front page of the papers over there every day,” Biffin said.
“It is like the footy here.”
Biffin’s fourth place in the World Championships is by far the best result he has had in over 30 years of the sport.
“To come fourth out of the best 50 riders in the world is pretty good,” Biffin said.
The pair will now join up with Todd Carey and Brad Gurney to try and get Tamworth its second win at the Royal Easter Show.
With two world championship riders and one of them in the top five riders in the world, they are confident they can do well.
“We have won it once and come second about 15 times,” Biffin said.
“We will give it a shake this year.”
The team will start riding on Sunday and finish on Wednesday.
Following the Easter Show the riders will go back in to training for the Australian Championships in Scone next month.