Heavy rain in the morning forced the organisers of the annual rodeo to contemplate postponing the event - something that had never happened in its 50-year history, rodeo club president Blair Johnston said.
Fortunately, the rain eased off later in the morning and after a two-hour delay, events got under way and the rain cleared within an hour of the rodeo starting.
''The grounds were awash three days ago - we've had more than three inches [7.5cm] of rain in the past week, so it was getting a bit boggy,'' Mr Johnston said.`So much for the $7000 worth of topsoil we've just put on it.''
The committee met before 6am yesterday and had to decide whether to postpone the event or delay the start time.
''The barrel racers were really keen to keep going and it was judged safe enough to carry on. Postponing isn't as easy as it sounds either, as we've got vets and St Johns here, announcers, and you'd have to make arrangements for all the stock, let alone disrupting the plans of the competitors,'' he said.
The club had been hard at work to get the grounds in good order for the milestone event and raised $45,000 to construct new chutes, which were installed last week.
"The funds were mostly raised though contract tailing - ''we've done heaps of tailing to get that money''.
More than 200 competitors took part in the rodeo and there were no major injuries, he said.
Although the number of spectators was down at the start of the event, more people arrived when the weather cleared and the crowd was estimated at about 1200 - the same as last year.
Sergeant Derek Ealson, of Alexandra, said the rodeo was ''well-managed and the crowd was well-behaved ''.
