Jodie Craig, Dot Dewsbury, Rachael Norton, Jodie Rigby, Emma Peters, Emma Lincoln and Heather Lincoln are heading to the annual Top Gun Breakaway Roping competition at the Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre (AELEC), a purpose-built facility that hosts many of the major rodeo and related carnivals and finals.

It is a familiar place for the Goulburn area contingent. Besides competing for big prize money this weekend, it’s a chance to catch up with friends.

Jodie Craig said the Top Gun Breakaway Roping competition had grown to become possibly the nation’s largest roping event for women.

“It brings competitors together from Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia,” she said.

It is conducted in several divisions including a double-barrel event in which a novice roper teams with an experienced rider and their times are combined.

Craig, Dewsbury, Rigby and Peters have been roping since about 1995. They are local friends who have grown up in the saddle and chase the rodeo events around the country with their horses.

They’re all friends with Mac Fife of Fifes Stockfeed Goulburn, a major sponsor for their sport, helping with horse feed and other equine needs.