Sports reports: Murray Bridge BMXer wins state title

This story includes contributions from Travis Reddington, Terry Hann, Michael Potts, Daniel Irvine and Derek Vanderzon. To express an interest in sponsoring this weekly feature and helping us expand our coverage, email jane@murraybridge.news.

Murray Bridge’s Travis Reddington has claimed gold in the 2026 Auscycling Freestyle BMX state series, with younger brother Shae finishing fourth.

Travis is now the South Australian veterans title holder and will head to Melbourne this weekend to compete in the national series.

The brothers are looking for sponsorship support to help them reach their goals of winning national titles and potential Olympic qualification.

• Sponsor Travis Reddington: Email travasferk@gmail.com.

Murray Bridge trainer takes out the Strathalbyn Cup

Murray Bridge trainer Roslyn Day, with jockey Ben Price, has won the prestigious Strathalbyn Cup on Saturday with five-year-old gelding Kirkliston Blu.

Stuart Padman, another Murray Bridge trainer, had a winner with Tenterk at the same meeting.

Local trainers also dominated the mid-week Gawler meeting with four wins, including another winner for Day.

• Kirkliston Blu ridden by Ben Price and trained by Roslyn Day (Murray Bridge) won the Strathalbyn Cup at Strathalbyn
• Tenterk ridden by Jacob Opperman and trained by Stuart Padman (Murray Bridge) won a Maiden Plate at Strathalbyn
• Bocheeva ridden by Andrew Stead and trained by Roslyn Day (Murray Bridge) won the Bung Fritz Cup Class One Plate at Gawler
• Orlova ridden by Tala Hutchinson and trained by Dan Clarken and Oopy MacGillivray (Murray Bridge) won a Three-Years-Old and Over Maiden Plate at Gawler
• Tokyo Ice ridden by Caitlin Tootell and trained by Garret Lynch (Murray Bridge) won a Handicap at Gawler
• Smashing Action ridden by Margaret Collett and trained by Justin Pickering (Murray Bridge) won a Handicap at Gawler

Softball champs get back to school

Murray Bridge High School students Zaxton Sward (13) and Kaiden Martin (15), along with their squad teammates, have created history at the 2026 Softball Australia under-16 national championships in Perth.

Queensland took the honours on the final day, but the South Australian under-16
boys brought home a more personal glory.

They had beaten the 1994 inaugural team, surpassed last year’s fourth place finish and matched the legendary 1995-96 under 19 men’s team with a podium result.

Jervois, Mannum and Murray Bridge take wins in bowls

A strong second half from the visiting Jervois side saw them overwhelm RSL by 20 shots 72-52, while Mannum returned from Karoonda with 9 points, and Murray Bridge completed the trio of away teams winning with a 10 shot win over Tailem Bend.

Graeme Herbert, Derek Vanderzon, Shane Fromm and Neil Morris overcame a 6 shot deficit at the break to beat Noel Kneebone, Max Wilkins, Ian Schubert and Phil Day 23-11.

Kneebone made some big saves in the first, and won the last 3 ends going into the break to lead 11-5.

Remarkably he was still on 11 shots at the end of the match, with Herbert winning the final 10 ends in adding 18 shots, and holding multiple shots in 2 ends "killed" by Kneebone.

Jeremy Scannell, Graham Fromm, Graham Schenke and Stuart McCulloch were comfortable 24-19 winners over David Graham, Anthony Wilkin, Matt Wynne and Gary Daniel.

Both sides won multiple ends in the first half, but a 5 to Scannell right before the break gave him the ascendancy, and he repeated the dose 3 ends later.

By the 17^th end he led 23-11 and was coasting, but Graham picked up a pair of 3's to reduce the final margin to 5 shots.

Shawn Hicks, Tim Hicks, Heather Fromm and Grace Hameister recovered from a dismal start to overrun David Thiele, Karen Kneebone, Michael Walker and David Newell 25-22.

Hicks trailled 10-0 after 6 ends, but went into the break just 1 adrift in winning the next 5 ends and adding 9 shots, and soon grabbed a 3 shot lead with the first 2 ends upon resuming.

Thiele regained the lead with a 4 and a single, but a 6 to Hicks was quickly followed b a 3, 2 and 1 and he had a 10 shot lead with 2 ends to go.

A 6 to Thiele came too late, but reduced the final margin to 3 shots.

At Karoonda, a 27-13 win to the in form Terry McDonnell, Marty March, Todd McDonnell and Gary Odgers over Erin O'Malley, Garry Mason, Damon Fromm and Malcolm Waechter set up the win for Mannum. 

O'Malley collected singles on the first 2 ends, but McDonnell was in control thereafter and steadily built his lead to lead 12-3 at the break.

A 3 and a 4 to O'Malley temporarily closed the gap, but McDonnell was regularly adding 2's and cruised to a 14 shot win.

David Kempe, Graham Wakefield, Graham Leathers and Peter Wegner won only 8 ends against Ian Symonds, Belinda O'Malley, Tarryn Turner and John Wegner, but still managed to share the points with a 22-22 draw.

Kempe opened proceedings with a 5, but Symonds immediately responded with a 4 before Kempe drew away to an 8 shot lead after 8 ends.

Another 4 to Symonds helped him reduce the deficit to 2 shots at the break. A 5 to Kempe after the restart had him 7 shots clear, but  Symonds won 7 of the next 8 ends to go to the last end 2 shots in front with all the momentum.

Two shots to Kempe on the final end forced a tie.Rowan Zadow, Jayden Turner, Anthony Clothier and James Boughen also won just 8 ends, and lost 11 ends in a row, but still somehow managed to conjure a dramatic 23-20 win over Gavin Pfeiffer, Tom Towns, Ian Windebank and Colin Campion.

Zadow started brightly with a 3, but was still stranded on this score as Pfeiffer scored a 4 on the 11^th end, went into the break leading 16-3.

Rumour has it that during the break Karoonda deliberately ran out of Hahn Superdry to upset their opponent, and if so it certainly worked.

Pfeiffer added a single on the 12^th end, giving him a 14 shot lead and 11 ends in a row, before Zadow finally broke the drought with a 2.

Pfeiffer added a single, but a 7 to Zadow came out of the blue to more than halve the margin.

A 2 to Pfeiffer gave him a 7 shot buffer with 4 ends to go, but a 5 to Zadow suddenly threw the result wide open.

2 ends later Zadow was in front, and he consolidated the lead with a 2 on the final end for a dramatic win.

At Tailem Bend, a season first loss for Andrew Stasinowsky, Brian Traeger, Helen Lindner and Ben Traeger was not enough to stop Murray Bridge from claiming 10 points.

Travis Schenke, Rob Hales, Steve Gordge and Matt Kowald claimed the prized scalp after a tense struggle where for 16 ends the margin was never more than 2 shots either way, and the scoring was exclusively ones and twos.

A 6 to Schenke on the 17^th end when the sores had been tied suddenly defied the trend and gave him a match defining lead.

Singles either way maintained the lead before a 3 to Schenke gave him an unbeatable 9 shot lead going into the final end.

A 4 to Stasinowsky made the 21-16 loss a little more palatable.

Bruce Attrill, John Pohl, Judy Zadow and Brian Leckie had surprisingly little trouble in disposing of Sam Shepherd, David Hoare, Keith Wood and Grantley Byrne with a 27-16 win.

Attrill started with a 4, and although Shepherd had closed to within 2 shots after 6 ends, gained control with four  scores of 3 over five ends either side of the break to take a commanding 24-7 lead.

Shepherd added 9 shots to 3 over the final seven ends, but was never in a position to challenge.

Darren McIntosh, Tony Trewren, Troy Penhall and Paul Smart had their status as an unbeaten combination threatened early when they trailled 10-2 against Duane Edwards, Merv Stevens, Con Jones and Bernard Naulty.

Edwards scored three 2's and a 4 in the first five ends, but these were to be his only multiples for the match, being restricted to singles from thereon.

4's to McIntosh on the 6^th and 9^th ends got him back into the contest, and 4 singles in a row either side of the break gave him a narrow lead.

Edwards briefly retook the lead with successive singles, but McIntosh finished the stronger. 

The result still went down to the final end with a single to McIntosh giving him a 20-16 win.

Murray Bridge Rifle Club has good turnout

After a delayed start due to last weekend’s heat, the Murray Bridge Rifle Club began its 2nd half-year program this past Saturday from the distance of 600m.

14 Shooters turned out to compete, and one visitor, in what were reasonable conditions.

Topping the day off-rifle were Robert Paech in Target Rifle, with 99.07 and Mark Nesti in F- Class Open with 118.06. while Gordon Harrison led the way in F-Class Standard with 108.05.

Mark’s win was strong enough to also give him the top handicap score in F-Class, ahead of Harro by 3-points.

However, Rob was not able to claim both prizes as Andrew Heard’s 97.09
was enough to win the TR Handicap by 1.5-points.

Competition continues next week from 800m.

Penhall and Williams star in two-man team comp

A change of pace has arrived at Ritter Street with a four-ball better ball Stableford event played in place of a normal competition.

Confusingly named as 4BBB, players teamed up in groups of two and played normal individual Stableford, with the team score being the best of the two players’ scores recorded on each hole.

Add these all up and, bingo, you should have a great team score.

Well, early bird golfers Troy Penhall and Luke Williams certainly did, tallying 48 points to be clear top dogs for the day.

Information as to who starred where or how they did it is sparse – non-existent, actually – so there is nothing really to report and that’s probably how they would like it.

They’re as casual a duo as one would find anywhere.

Father-and-son pairing Fabian and Mikara Poharama were on the podium as runners-up with 46 points as they edged out the Shaun Williams/Damian Dolman duo to achieve this on a tight countback.

Johnny Hadden and Mal McFetridge put aside their differences to play as a team and led the placegetters with an excellent haul of 45 points.

Even old timers Jeff Smith and Bob Logan showed how to do it, popping up with 43 points to also claim a prize.

Club captain Mark Fanning teamed up with Ron Chopper lookalike Luke Woods and would have been impressed with his partner on the loooooong 513-metre par five seventh hole.

Woods, possibly the longest hitter in the club, put his third shot into the cup for eagle and five Stableford points.

We’re not sure where Fanning was with his ball at the time, but he could have quickly pocketed it and moved onto the next hole to save time and energy.

For his part, Woods cleaned out a very sparsely populated eagle’s nest courtesy of his brilliant play.

Crafty former C-grade champion Deane Pannell saved his best shot for when it really counted, sliding a smoothly hit iron up closest to the flag on the 11th to claim the highly sought-after yabby.

That’s enough of the non-standard stuff – it will be back to the serious grind of a stroke round this Saturday as we have autumn in our sights, not far away.

Three centuries scored in Murray Towns cricket

Meningie 7/186 lost to Jervois 3/190

• Jervois best: Theo Rimmer 107*, Luke Zadow 3/20 and Camron Jorgenson 3/30
• Meningie best: Connor Stephens 46, Cameron Reid 1/16

Wanderers 2/123 defeated Ramblers 10/120

• Wanderers best: Benjamin Trenorden 102*, Bradon Gregory 3/26 and Ben Gilgen 3/22
• Ramblers best: Braydon McDonald 50, Lual Kelei 1/29

Mypolonga 5/213 defeated Monarto 10/123

• Mypolonga best: Aaron Zrim 120, Riley Walton 4/27
• Monarto best: Michael Parker 36, Harry Miles 3/39

Mannum 4/128 defeated Tailem bend 6/127

• Mannum best: Nick Lindner 66, Kieren Hancock 3/25
• Tailem Bend best: Paul Agalidis 42, Umesh Badu 2/17

Email your sport reports to jane@murraybridge.news