SQTA held its 2nd annual State of Origin grudge match on the weekend with a field of 80 combatants drawing their state allegiance battle lines thru the middle of the Sign In tent on a cold and wintery S.E.Qld morning. Regardless of the cold, everyone was fired up to either retain or fight for a first time possession of the much sort after "Scenic Rim Sheild".
PHOTO GALLERY NOW ADDED
This year Queensland’s new captain, Adina Reed, ensured that NSW wouldn’t have the upper hand on us, as they did last year, and came prepared to match them both in enthusiasm and merchandise and as a result there were equal amounts of Maroon and Blue scattered everywhere from balloons and t-shirts to section tapes and banners. Even the machinery enclosure wasn’t spared, segregated into Cane Toad and Cockroach entries with the Qld Tick Gate inspectors ensuring that there were plenty of NSW non compliance rejections with the most innovative/creative award definitely going to Ian Duley’s bike with blue tyre side walls. The machinery inspectors held its examination up until the paint dried to ensure that he wasn’t going to get a traction advantage on the Stockyard Creek rocks. Wouldn’t have helped anyway hey E?
With plenty of sledging and general ribaldery flowing backwards and forwards across the purposely separated state divide our morning coffee meeting eventually wound up around 9.30am but not before NSW played their trump card when the appearance of some skinny character in a blue morphing suit with helmet, boots and outside undies arrived on centre stage to uproariously appreciative rounds of applause and laughter. So they managed to get the upper hand and raised the bar again for next year. Damn those cockroaches!
For those that don’t know the McNamara property, it nestles at the southern base of a very steep and high ridge line that runs up to the Lamington National Park to the east and is the perfect winter sun blocker making our usual camping locale a real ice box in winter, to say the least. The sun doesn’t appear until after 9.00am and no need to say that getting moving after spending the night there is an effort at best. Regardless, we still had 25 campers willing to brave the low single digit temps and camp over on Saturday night making a place around the campfire premium real estate. There were even 6 thrill seekers who survived two nights of it but it was worth every added layer of clothing and bedding to do so. Just the night sky display without the light pollution of the glitter strip made it all worthwhile.
In and attempt to get hearts started on Sunday morning we organised our friendly, and might I add very well received, Cafe2U coffee van and he did a roaring trade even staying around to take advantage our lunch break. He’s already booked in for the upcoming two day. I wonder why?
I may be starting to sound a bit like a broken record but what more can be said about our observers? As always we had a full complement of ten signed up even before having to call for any and to top it all off this time we actually had about another half dozen who missed the boat and who were noticeably miffed that they missed out on claiming what is fast becoming a well sort after clipboard. The old supply and demand ethos is staring to perpetuate itself within the club and we may have to start auctioning them off before too much longer. What a lovely position to be in and one that all our riders are undeniably appreciative of.
Doing our best to control non member entries and never knowing how many of our members may decide to ride with us on the day sometimes tests our 10 all Division sections and cardless rider number scoring system and with this event being our largest entry ever, after the Jeff Gough Memorial, both were put to the test and apart from a few Div 1 procrastination generated queues just about everyone managed to finish within our rather flexible time frame even with a compulsory lunch break thrown in. Our 10 sections were the usual diverse offering from the standard issue Graveyard Creek boulders, adjacent banks and washouts, the spectacular upper gulley and challenging hill climb but by far the most popular was our Ben Reed inspired Spaghetti Junction section remodelled and reprised once again for this event. Not only did the riders need GPS coordinates to navigate through it but Pam Barwick, our observer, also needed a special tutorial on where they had to go. Nice to see the young guns struggling with their tight turns and a clear indication that figure 8’s are put aside in lieu of “look at me” full wellie practice blasts up anything that looks good. 
As seems to be the norm, we welcome yet another half dozen new faces to our ranks giving them a taste of SQTA hospitality and what this strange sport of trials is all about and making us justly proud that we are continuing to our bit toward the long held national desire to get bums on seats and broaden our sports popularity base. There was certainly a fair amount of interest and discussion regarding new and second hand bikes amongst the new riders on the weekend which can only be a benefit to us all in the long run, both in the second hand and new sales department. There was even a rigid framed 1956 BSA bumping around on the day with its pilot taking a few photos and seeing what we are all about which added a little spice to the overall weekend. You’re welcome back anytime Peter and bring some of your mates next time as well if you like.
Lastly, and before I announce the 2011 State winners, I would like to acknowledge everyone who did their bit in making the weekend such a successful and light hearted affair, such as the Saturday Soiree bush walk, fossicking and bird watching enthusiasts who set up a great loop of excellent sections and in particular our State Captains, Adina Reed and Les Hellyar, and of course his Coach and lovely wife Kerryn, who I might add fell on her sword like any self respecting loosing coach should do after consecutive losses, but we all know she'll be back.
Whoops, I’ve let the cat out of the bag. Yes, the mighty Queenslanders were triumphant and humbly raised the “Scenic Rim Shield” for the second straight year in a row. Commiserations to our NSW cousins but you should know that we are now focussed on our winning football sides record of 6 in a row so you had better start your recruitment drive early and be sure to bring your “A” game next year. Good job everyone.
The end result was:
QLD 39.55
NSW 43.43