Friday, 9 April, 2021
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Noosa Jazz Party now homeless
Homegrown and eyeing Tokyo gold
The journey continues in the Mary Valley
56-page liftout Property Guide
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INSIDE
PR OP ER TY
Enduring emotion By Erle Levey
Kelsey Irvine and her 12-year-old mare Karma, competing in the 100km elevator event at Stirlings Crossing Endurance Centre at Imbil in the Mary Valley. 233431
It was a day of emotion and inspiration as Kelsey Irvine rode across the finish line in the 100km endurance event in the Mary Valley on Easter Sunday. Kelsey, a horse trainer at Canoona, north of Rockhampton, was riding Karma, the last mare bred by her late grandfather Alwyn Torenbeek. Torenbeek grew up watching rodeos in Mount Morgan and Rockhampton, and became a bush legend as drover, horse whisperer, endurance rider, bronc rider and author. Kelsey was riding Karma on Sunday at Stirlings Crossing Equestrian Centre for the 100km event, her 12-year-old mare that was bred by the family. This was after finishing fourth across the line and first in the middleweight division in Saturday’s 80km event on Toy Boi SD, a six-year-old gelding she bred herself. “It was a trying course due to the hills and slippery conditions on Sunday,’’ Kelsey said, at a stop on the drive back to Rockhampton on Monday. Continued page 6
Heart starters By Phil Jarratt The Friday before Easter started out much like any other day for Noosa surfing retiree Bill McLelland, 67. But by the end of it he would have died, been revived, been airlifted to Sunshine Coast University Hospital and fitted out with a lifesaving internal defibrillator. The lifelong surfer, originally from Merewether Beach in Newcastle, funded a
dream Noosa retirement by building up the Hunter region’s biggest and most successful milk run over 30 years, but it very nearly turned into a nightmare for partner Shari. “I cut it pretty bloody fine,” Bill said over a coffee this week. “Without the defib station at the beach I wouldn’t be here.” Bill could so easily have joined the 30,000 Australians who lose their lives each year through preventable deaths from cardiac arrest. So could veteran knee-
boarder Gavin Garps, also 67, who blacked out at First Point in January and was revived by CPR administered by an off-duty policeman, and lifeguard Jack Fray who raced from the tower with a defibrillator. “Our stories are eerily similar,” Gavin told Noosa Today this week. “We’re both surfers of a certain age who wouldn’t have gotten any older if it wasn’t for a defibrillator on the beach.” Gavin ended up with a double bypass but is slowly recovering at home and expects to
be back in the surf soon. Bill had already had a double bypass four years ago and passed his most recent battery of tests with his cardiologist with flying colours. So on the morning he decided to give the points a miss and paddle out at the beach breaks of Noosa West on his soft-top, he wasn’t expecting anything more than a pleasant session in the friendly little waves on offer. Continued page 5
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