Paradise Lagoons Campdraft 2022 sees record 2400+ nominations

Due to large nominations for the three-day event, the campdraft committee have made the decision to shift the program forward a day to start on Wednesday April 13 and finish Saturday April 16.

Co-established by the late Graeme Acton, the event is also celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

With $145,000 in prize money and trophies on offer, Paradise Lagoons Campdraft committee member Russell Hughes said the committee have been overwhelmed with the amount of interest in the event.

Mr Hughes also concluded that this year's campdraft fit well with competitors heading to the ACA Golden Anniversary national finals at Sprinsgure the following Tuesday.

"Certainly, I think those finals will draw a lot of people from far a field and that was one of the factors that we did decided to go on the Easter weekend," he said.

"We originally compressed our draw back to finish on the Saturday, as normally we finished on Sunday.

"Finishing on Saturday gives competitors time to pack up and head out to Springsure on the Sunday, get set up Monday and start competing on the Tuesday."

Mr Hughes said it was also cost effective for those people that are traveling long distances.

"We're giving the people the opportunity to enjoy this part of the world and it's a perfect time as far as the weather, it's just glorious at the moment," he said.

"The majority of nominations are coming from Queensland but I believe there's a good spread right across New South Wales and Victoria.

"Campgrafting is a big investment and the record nominations just shows the popularity of the sport, and that people will jump in a vehicle and drive over 2000kms to the event.

"If you're driving from Victoria to Springsure, you're better off doing two campdrafts and trying to pick up an extra diesel money on the way."

With the huge number of nominations for the DC Motors - Ram Novice Draft, the committee have also announced the competition will now be a two round draft plus final.

A restricted event in 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions, saw only 1700 nominations.

Mr Hughes said this year's event should prove very popular, with thousands of spectators expected.

Queensland Country Life is the official media partner of the 2022 Paradise Lagoons Campdraft.

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