In October Mount Isa’s Te Urewera Potini, 16, was selected for the Under 17s Queensland state softball team. The Under 17s will compete in the national championships in Adelaide January 5-11, 2019. Te Urewera went there on the back of recent success having competed with the Mount Isa Under 17s softball team which came first in the president’s cup in Mackay in September.
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Trainer Jay Morris’s horse Expat Envy cruised to victory in the Isa Hotel Spring Cup in October. The race doubled as the first qualifying race in North West Queensland for the Country Cups Challenge so Expat Envy lined up with 15 other country cup winners on George Moore Stakes day at Doomben on 1 December and vie for $70,000 in prize money.
A week later it was Cloncurry's turn for the Spring Cup. The Brodie Hardware Cloncurry Cup Open Handicap also served as one of the qualifier races for the Country Cups Challenge and the crowd made plenty of noise as Loud Enough won it for trainer Steven Royes with Jason Babarovich aboard.
Mount Isa locals rubbed shoulders with cricket icon Jeff Thomson in October. “Thommo” hosted a meet and greet at the Overlander Hotel on a whirlwind speaking tour around Australia. Cricket lovers of the north west were invited to bring their bats and balls along to be signed by the pace bowling great.
Cloncurry cowboy Tyler Chong was one of the stars of the Mount Isa Rodeo Series Final in October at Buchanan Park. After trying his hand at bullriding, 21-year-old Tyler Chong decided bronc riding would be his mainstay. “I was no good at bullriding, then one day I was at my mates practice pen and he told me to jump on a horse,” Chong said.
A big crowd attended the Mount Isa Usuzu Ute Annihilation Fight night at the Irish Club, an AMMA-santioned event featuring boxing and muay thai contests.
Euros slooted home a last minute penalty to win the first game of the rugby season over Warrigals 21-19. MIRU used the night to open their new bar.
Anglers from Sweden to Charleville swamped Mount Isa for the 20th annual Lake Moondarra Fishing Classic. Local Ben Apogremiotis caught the heaviest barramundi of the weekend at 26.54kg – just shy of Joshua Moren’s 26.7kg 2017 record.
It was a nail-biting end to the T20 Cricket competition when the defending Premiers Blackstars met the Cavaliers at Captain Cook oval on Saturday morning, with the underdogs, taking home the trophy by just two runs. The final scoreboard reflected the closeness of the match - 7/124 Cavaliers and 8/122 Blackstars.
Racing Qld cancelled the December 1 meet at Mount Isa due to a predicted heatwave.
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
