Sydney Jumping Association (SJA) – a bright future ahead
With the demand for high quality shows increasing around the country, a group of professional showjumpers have recently come together to meet this need.
With the goal of providing regular, high-level competition on an excellent jumping surface in the Sydney area, the Sydney Jumping Association (SJA) have partnered with Windsor Polo Club to deliver an exciting new ongoing show series for serious Jumping competitors.
Located in the equestrian hub of Sydney, the Hawkesbury, the scenic grounds of Windsor Polo Club at the foot of the blue-mountains certainly delivers on the requirement for a quality jumping surface. The pristine Polo fields provide room for two spacious arenas on a surface designed and maintained for horse sports and is reportedly one of the best grass jumping surfaces in the country.
An important part of the SJA vision was to provide quality new fences for this venture and with this in mind, they engaged Frank Rothenberger, one of the world’s leading course designers, who from his facility in Germany designs and supplies tailor-made fences which have become a highlight of shows all around the world. The outcome has been a set of beautifully designed jumps which will certainly be a feature of these shows into the future.
Entry into the planned six meetings per year is by purchasing a ‘slot’, which entitles the rider to a place in each of the weekends, which comprise of a training day on the Saturday and competition on Sunday.
With the weather in 2022 playing havoc with shows across NSW, SJA has naturally suffered the same fate, with only once show so far being able to run this year, but what a great start it was.
Sydney put on a weekend of it’s nicest winter days in the middle of last month and although it was touch and go as to whether the grounds would dry out enough, the Organising Committee managed to pull everything together to put on a lovely weekend of competition.
The two arenas looked the part with the shiny new jumps in place and with classes up to 1.45m it was an exciting weekend for competitors who had had numerous weekends of competition cancelled in previous months. With a DJ pumping out beats across the grounds, the atmosphere was fantastic and we have it on good authority that this is just the start of things to come.
While the weather might well have the final say in how rest of 2022 plays out, we are confident that the SJA will be an ongoing feature of the Sydney Jumping calendar well into the future and we look forward to reporting on many weekends to come.