That was the assessment from ABCRA executive officer Hunter Jones after five days of junior and senior rodeo and campdraft wrapped up at the Tamworth Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre on Saturday night.

 Jones said the NFR and NFC “was an outstanding success and had exceeded all expectations”. 

“What we’ve seen over the past five days is the culmination of 12 months of hard work by everyone involved in making these National Finals the huge success it is,”  Jones said.

“From the competitors who followed the competition circuit throughout 2014, gathering points and prize money in order to secure themselves a top spot in the rankings and subsequent invitation to compete at the National Finals to the various organising committees, volunteers and board and staff of the ABCRA – it’s a huge team effort.

“Spectator numbers in all three components of our National Finals; the junior rodeo, senior rodeo and campdraft, enjoyed tremendous growth and exceeded last year’s numbers by a mile.”

The 2015 finals started with two nights of junior action last week followed by three nights of senior NFR from Thursday.

Three rounds of campdrafting were also conducted on Friday and Saturday in the campdrafting arena at the AELEC.

n More reports and pictures in this week’s NDL as well as the Tamworth Times.