A local family did Yass Valley proud at the Southern NSW Team Sorting competition in Crookwell on the weekend.
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The sport sees teams of two riders compete to sort cattle in numerical order, from one end of the arena to the other, in the shortest time.
One rider blocks the gate in the middle of the arena to stop unwanted cattle from passing through, while the other rider pushes through the next number.
William Scanes from Yass was one of the youngest competitors at 10 years old and was awarded best blocker over the weekend.
William also came fourth place with riding partner Sasha Maguire in the Saturday Juniors. The two sorted five heifers in 33.15 seconds.
William’s uncle, Richard Scanes, and riding partner Kate Chinick of Murrumbateman were only milliseconds away from coming fifth place in the Saturday Open. The two sorted ten heifers in just over 1.18 minutes.
The family travels to every team sorting competition and made the sport look easy.
There was a record number of individual rider entries at this year’s competition.
Entries reached 166 individual riders with competitors coming from from across the state, including Yass, Braidwood, Cowra, the south coast and Upper Lachlan Shire.
It was also the 10th anniversary of the event and AP&H Society president Paul Anderson said the quality of competitors this year was “amazing.”
The next team sorting will not be until February in Braidwood, if the season permits.