Year 12 student takes home grand champion Ekka school parader in final year

In her final appearance, a Warwick teen has finally secured a longed-for champion ribbon in the Royal Queensland Show school paraders competition.

Georgia Mulcahy from Scots PGC College in Warwick took out the grand championship title of the day, which marked her fourth and final appearance at the school-aged event.

She stood to the top of a field of 254 students aged 11 to 18 years that graced the ring with an elevated level of skill from previous years of the competition.

Under the eye of Leanne Ridley in the senior ring (16-18 years) and Olivia Delaforce in the junior (11-13 years) and intermediate (14-15 years) rings, students from schools across Qld and NSW vied for a spot in the top placings.

"I've always wanted to win, so it's a nice feeling, especially being my last year of school," she said.

"I felt pretty confident heading into the ring for the championship, but it did feel weird having the only tropical animal out there.

"She's a balanced heifer and floated really well around the ring, but she was getting over it by the end and started to get a bit fidgety."

Laycee Lambkin from Scone Grammar School, NSW, was awarded runner-up to Ms Mulcahy at only 13 years of age.

With two brief years of showing under her belt, the judges commended her on her outstanding ability to control and balance her animal with presence in the ring.

Judge Leanne Ridley, who came up through the junior ranks 35 years ago and is a veteran at showing cattle, said she was pleasantly surprised by the skillset of the school paraders, admitting that it was difficult to pull forward only a few finalists out of each heat.

"Within your parader competition, for me, it doesn't matter what age, I just like them to be a cool, calm, and quiet parader, but still be able to have that animal presented at all times," she said.

"I want to be drawn to the animal, not to the parader, because to me, that's someone doing an excellent job.

"There were a lot of quality paraders and that's how I ended up with 25 in my senior finals instead of 20."

Olivia Delaforce was invited to judge as the current reigning National Parader Champion following her victory at the Melbourne Royal last year.

At only 22 years of age, she brought to the ring a wealth of knowledge and made sure to spend time with each competitor, giving them valuable insights and tips to apply next time they enter the ring.

"I think Leanne and I were picking the same sort of kids, which was really cool to see," she said.

"Our champion today did a really good job of floating with that heifer, and that's exactly what we were looking for.

"It was really exciting to see that there were 11-year-olds who were able to go up against the 16 and 17-year-olds and hold their ground, too.

"They had a lot of ring presence, but they also had spatial awareness."

Full results

Junior placings

1^stLaycee Lambkin - Scone Grammar School

2^nd Dusty Dull - Toogoolawah SHS

3^rd Fletcher Skillington - Scots PGC College

4^th Tom Prior - CultivateAg

5^th Angus Hamilton - Scots PGC College

6^th Sky Mcindoe - Glen Innes High School

7^th Allora Gould - St Johns College Woodlawn Lismore

8^th Max Sedgman - St Peters

Intermediate placings

1^st Emma Carter - Scone Grammar School

2^ndJosie Harvey - Holy Trinity School

3^rd Emerald Dean - St Mary's Catholic College

4^th Lachlan Hooper - Scots All Saints College

5^th Chad Booth - St Joseph's Catholic College

6^th Skye McRae - Scone Grammar School

7^th Ollie Shearman - Scone Grammar School

8^th Teleah Bull - Boonah State High School

Senior Placings

1^stGeorgia Mulcahy - Scots PGC College

2^nd Clancie Dull - Toogoolawah SHS

3^rd Henry Orton - Scone Grammar School

4^th Jacob Merrick - St Catherines Catholic College Singleton

5^th Lea-Ann Buckman - Macleay Vocational College

6^th Elora Ardrey - Maclean High School

7^th Bindy Isaac - Peel High

8^th Charlee Pennell - Scots PGC College