IMAGINE picking up a 50 cent piece, on horseback, at speeds of over 40km hour.
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Now imagine doing it in front of the world.
That is what Tamworth’s Jayme Averillo and Gunnedah’s Steven Craig will do when they represent Australia at the World Cup Championships for Tentpegging in Oman in January 2019.
Both teenagers will feature in Australia’s maiden under-21 team.
The pair’s mentor Scotty Miller said he expected the pair to star at January’s competition.
“Typically tentpegging isn’t a big sport in Australia, however we are very competitive on the world stage,” Miller said.
“I have been mentoring these two by default I suppose and they have been doing very well.
“They’re both really accomplished riders who have been doing it for a long time and this is a great stepping stone for these guys to get to where they want to go.”
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For Averillo, this will be the second time she has earned national representative honours after touring Portugal with the Australian Horseball team two years ago.
“I’ve only taken part in two carnivals so it’s pretty surprising to be named in the team, but it’s also an awesome achievement," Averillo said.
“Being the first time this competition has had a junior event is pretty exciting because I don’t really know what to expect.
“But I think the swords is something that I will be really working on, because from watching the older guys in competition online it is something they have struggled with.
“So if we can really work on that and have that ready to go we should be able to score plenty of points.”
As for Craig, January’s competition holds an opportunity to do what he loves.
“I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to compete for Australia to be honest,” Craig said.
“It will be certainly be pretty high on my list of achievements that’s for sure.”
Both youngsters will be hosting fundraising events to help pay for the trip to Oman, with Craig hosting a barbeque at Woolworths Gunnedah on December 15 and Averillo a car boot sale in the coming weeks and a barefoot bowling day in Manilla on January 13.