THE Hamilton Campdraft will once again take its pride of place with this weekend’s event attracting strong numbers.

The event, which started yesterday includes a big day of action today, will be headlined by the Ladies Final and the Victorian Championships Open Final under lights tonight.

The action will continue tomorrow, bringing an end to what promises to be a big three days of competition.

Hamilton Campdraft secretary, Nikky McMahon said the amount of entries forced the event to two and a half days, prompting a Friday start.

“I think it is probably what we normal get for a three-day event, we normally get a few extra than what we can run across two days, so we just start on Friday so we can get through them all,” she said.

“There are quite a few locals who will be coming, then we have people from South Australia, New South Wales and all across Victoria.”

It is the first time the Open event will be billed as the state championships, a move the committee is hoping to build on going forward.

“It is the first time we are running our Open event as the Victorian Championships and hopefully we can grow that in the coming years,” McMahon said.

“The feature events are the Victorian Championships Open, the Open shootout, and our Ladies event with two of those three events ran under lights (tonight).”

There are also junior events scheduled across the weekend.

“We have junior and juvenile events as well, the juvenile is 13-17 and the junior is 8-12 and we will also run gymkhana events for the kids younger than eight,” McMahon said.

“We are just looking forward to running our event again and a massive thanks to our cattle donors and sponsors.

“Spectators are also allowed, we have got the COVID-19 requirements, but once you have shown your proof of vaccination, you will get a wristband for the weekend.

“We also have full catering on site as well.”