The journey began as an undertaking in 1986 by Queensland riders to take a team to the first traveling Quilty; to be held in South Australia. The trip was most successful. The Queensland team traveled together and there were many and varied discussions around the campfires, with their thoughts of Queensland’s place in the endurance hegemony by tossing around the idea of a signature ride for Queensland. Within a few months, the committee was established from the Dealbata ride of 1986, and the new Marathon event was to be known as THE FAR-A-WAY.

After all these years, not many people will know the Far-A-Way’s inception, but it was named with a traveling bushman in mind. Nat Buchanan was a fellow who traveled across Australia. The indigenous people called him the faraway man, because of his traveling habits.

David Nancarrow, Louise Lewis, Barb Timms and people with local connections made up the committee, with the local Plod being it’s first President. The people who made the Far-A-Way tick have been there to be found when needed. Endurance knows Bob and Olga Bartlett, David and Lesley Nancarrow, Peter Pike, Louise Lewis, with many others joining the group, Michael Gabriel, Steve and Jackie Swan, Peter, Susan and Kim Hennessy, Francoise le Duc, Kell, Paula, Allan, Margot, Sally and Col Cattle, the partners, friends and children of all the above.

Without a track, we did not have a ride. The track consideration was always the first action of the Far-A-Way group. Our tracks were discovered by wide traveling young horse riders and with Elise Nancarrow’s guidance, we discovered interconnection bridle paths and unused forest trails in the high country of the Conondale Range.

The FAR-A-WAY and the TOM QUILTY have been intertwined at Kemilworth.

John Thompson led the first Queensland Quilty from Kenilworth in 1988 with the second Kenilworth Quilty held in 1994. John’s input and legacy in operation of the Far-A-Way was a decided influence on our endeavours, strategies and future planning.

Despite the rain deluge in 1988, the Far-A-Way Marathon was something Queensland endurance riders embraced. Easter became it’s regular date and Kenilworth Showground became it’s home. In the early days, they used to play team games on the Saturday afternoon (between the “Legs” of the days ride)

The Easter event was conceived as a 320km test over four riding days. 

A 120k training ride over three days was later added to the program. We now have the320 km Marathon, three 40k training rides, two, 80k endurance rides and a 20k intro ride, seven rides in total. There are still many riders who remember their fun filled Easters at Kenilworth.

The club later recognized the need for a ride at the end of the season and the Sparkler became what it is today. The inaugural Sparkler was run in the 1980s, with sparklers and candles lighting the start.

With two rides now on the calendar the next step was to meet the need for a pre-season training ride. The Mary River Crossing event was added to the Far-A-Way schedule. It was popular beyond expectations and a good start to the riding year. At Imbil it has become the Education & Training Weekend.

A major challenge was met when it became difficult to continue with the use of the Kenilworth Showground as a ride base. The new club president, Peter Pike, along with Bob Bartlett, explored the hills adjacent to Imbil and arranged to move the Far-A-Way ride base to the Imbil Showground. In doing this they ensured the club’s future. The ride base has been expanded by the Cooloola Shire’s purchase of 20 acres of land adjoining the Showground. This has allowed the club to cope with the continuing growth of  the Easter Endurance Carnival, Sparkler and the Far-A-Way Education and Training Week-end. An excellent working relationship has been formed with the Mary Valley Show Society and the local businesses that strongly support the Far-A-Way club’s presence at Imbil.

More than twenty years down the track, successfully running an event like the Easter Endurance Carnival hasn’t changed, there is still a high level of organization and efficiency needed. Over 250k of tracks must be marked; ride base must be set up to accommodate 200 horses and around 1000 people.

Managing such a big program of endurance rides has caused the club to invest in it’s own equipment that most Ride Organisers would not need, such as a 4x4 vehicle, a radio communication network with a repeater station.

And yes, there are big plans for the future. The Imbil Showground and the adjacent forest trails offer an amazing resource for endurance and trail riders. It is the club’s aim to have a disused railway line turned into a non-vehicle corridor leading into the forest trails without riding beside busy roads. This will be supported by a substantial upgrading of the horse and camping facilities at Imbil Showground.

The club will lobby the government to gazette the forest trails as being a permanent horse riding trails, this would give hundreds of kilometers of quality riding trails a security of access for riders.

There is every indication that the next twenty years of the Far-A-Way story will be just as exciting as the past twenty years.