Maree Pitman celebrating wins on and off the racetrack

By Andrew Smith

She recently trained her first winner on the track and now Maree Pitman has also been recognised for her tireless contribution off it.

The trainer and Jundah Race Club treasurer is the latest winner of Racing Queensland’s Cheer A Volunteer award.

The 43-year-old is on the committee of the club alongside husband Dan who has held the president’s role since 2018.

Maree explained how her husband’s role convinced her to become involved with the Central West club seven years ago.

“He's been a long time member of the Jundah Race Club and due to him being the president, I jumped on board to support him,” Maree said.

“My family's always been involved in racing my whole life, so I had a little bit of a passion there to start with.

“There's three towns that make up the Barcoo Shire here, and we're the only race club within the shire with an operating race meet still.

“So it's a big event, and everyone comes together, because it's a little bit different to the camp drafts and gymkhanas that are thriving down here.

“It's just a really good sort of club that keeps everyone going and brings the community together.”

Maree will work with the secretary to handle finances, organise sponsorship and advertising, book jockeys and maintain the gardens and facilities in the lead up to the club’s one race day a year.

She will now juggle that alongside training duties after the Pitmans launched their own racing stable late last year.

Kicking off in October, the husband-and-wife team broke through for their first winner when Saltclay saluted at Longreach on March 21.

Maree said the maiden victory had come at a great relief for her and Dan, and made the couple feel like they finally belonged in the training caper.

“It inspires you to keep going because you're stressing, and you're feeling like a bit of a fraud until you get that win,” Maree said.

“It was nice to get that and you feel like you deserve to be there once you got that winner.

“Dan has a lot to do with it all as well, and I didn’t actually get to be there trackside the day that our horse won, as I was away with our daughter barrel racing.

“But it's been good to share the load with him as well.

“We have got the monkey off our back with that win, and anything now is a bonus and we just want to have fun with what we've got.”

The Pitmans have five racehorses in their stable at the moment, which also includes Simply Smashing, Take A Break, Invader’s Girl and Boom Flyer.

They share the Jundah track with local trainer-jockey Steven Galvin while taking their horses for gallops in the mornings.

The club and the town as a whole was severely tested when they were inundated by record-breaking flooding in March last year, with dozens of residents evacuated by helicopter.

Maree explained how she and the small volunteer committee had worked tirelessly to have the club back up and running in time for October’s annual meeting.

“It was a bit of a shock when we got all this rain that we had never received and the track itself had never flooded to that degree ever before,” Maree said.

“All the buildings went under, the track was under, and then all the whole town went completely under.

“It was a massive effort to get the track back up to grade to race again, we had to lean on everyone to get that up and racing by October.

“It affected everyone financially and put a lot of strain on a lot of people, so finding funding and sponsorship become quite hard for the club, but we, like everyone, banded together and got it done.

“It's a really strong community where everyone does support each other and helps out, and although it was a yucky situation, it brought the best out in the community, and everyone sort of got together and helped each other.”

In taking out the Cheer A Volunteer award, Maree paid tribute to the rest of the Jundah Race Club committee for their efforts.

“We're a really small club, and we all band together and get it all done and nobody whinges,” Maree said.

“It's a really good team effort and where someone lacks in a skill, someone else picks up and takes on that role and everyone supports each other.

“There literally is probably about 10 working members that come and help, and everyone gets in and gets the place looking great for race day.

“I think that's my favourite thing, is seeing everyone pull together, and nothing's too big of anyone to do.”

Clubs are encouraged to nominate their valued volunteers for the award, which is sponsored by Mittys.

State-wide, there are more than 8,300 volunteers who make an invaluable contribution to the industry, providing their time and expertise to sustain Queensland’s three codes of racing.

Click here for more information on Cheer A Volunteer and to nominate.