BUOYED by recent international and state representative selections, Cunningham Polocrosse Club put on a show of team strength at its second home carnival of the season over the weekend.
The carnival attracted 40 teams with many horses and riders at peak fitness as the season nears its end.
With only two more club carnivals in the South East Zone before the Queensland State Titles, the battle for club pride was fierce.
For the first time in three years, the host club made the A Grade final against Tansey 1.
Tansey 1, which has shown a lot of winning form recently, again showcased great horse power and riding skills to win the game with a final score of 23 to 7.
The Juniors showed that the sport of polocrosse has a strong future with many talented players taking to the field and in a repeat of last Cunningham carnival, the home juniors did the club proud.
Cunningham had traditionally been a club with a strong focus on juniors and that was evident in the results.
In the A Grade Junior final Cunningham 1 (Jnr) beat Warwick (Jnr) 14 to 10 and in the closely matched B Grade Junior final Cunningham 2 (Jnr) beat a combined junior team 9 to 8.
The future of the sport is bright at Cunningham Polocrosse Club with Juniors Carly Cooper and Anthony O’Leary recently selected to represent Queensland in an Under-21 mixed team to play in a state competition against Western Australia and Victoria at Walkaway Carnival in Western Australia in late September.
Cunningham Polocrosse Club is also home to one of the best Under 21 lady polocrosse players in the world after Ryle Waugh and fellow club member Zac O’Leary starred in the Australian Intermediate Mixed Team competing in South Africa last month.
Awards for individual positions were judged by all the players (men and ladies) and Waugh was judged the best number one from both the men and ladies teams.
She also won the Best Horse and Rider award and Champion Lady Player.
The last two carnivals of South East Zone’s 2016 Polocrosse season will be Gold Coast’s annual carnival at Killarney grounds this weekend with Warwick Polocrosse Club hosting the IOR Petroleum Rose Bowl at Morgan Park the following weekend.
