EDITORIAL - STEVE HILTON

Congratulations to the newly crowned Australian Champions. Six of the 2013 Champions had been there before and were joined by 4 first time Champions who I’m sure everyone agrees are worthy title holders and capable of repeating their performance in the future.
Producing the NFR on the Gold Coast is a huge task with many hurdles and while some aspects are not ideal I’m sure everyone agrees that when the venue is near capacity and the competition commences there isn’t a better place in the country to host our Finals.
I would like to thank everyone who assisted in the running of the Finals from the NFR Management Group to the Promoter; Cross Promotions, the stock contractors, officials and workers and a special thankyou to Glen Mansfield and Greg Leys who worked with me from start to finish. Last but not least thankyou to the competitors who performed in a professional manner and for any assistance you provided to help the NFR, our Association and our sport.
It was great to see some of our former NFR contestants and members turn up for the Convention and join with our affiliating committees who travelled from SA, NSW, VIC and QLD for the Meet and Greet Function and later the Rodeo Committee Forum. This Forum was attended by some of our premier committees and included representatives from Warwick, Mt Isa, Marrabel, Kyabram, Lang Lang, Merrijig and Tumbarumba plus a number of new affiliates.
I certainly gained a lot from these committees and I hope the opportunity to hear from this Association and network with others will prove beneficial to all those involved. This was just the start and I am now acting on the information shared during this Forum. I hope these functions can become a fixture and grow with our Finals in the future.
With the Northern Run just around the corner I wish everyone safe travel and good luck and all the very best to our hard working committee’s for a successful rodeo.

Steve Hilton
Rodeo Administrator