ARMIDALE — ARMIDALE CUP

Presenter: Sophie Grant

Ben’s off somewhere across town catching up with three blokes he went to school with, so I’ve had Armidale largely to myself this afternoon.

Which suited me fine.

This feels like a town you want to walk slowly.

Sitting around a thousand metres above sea level on the Northern Tablelands, you feel the difference almost as soon as you get out of the car. Cool, clean air and a light that seems to sit differently on the buildings than it does back on the coast.

 

THE CATHEDRAL CITY

They call Armidale the Cathedral City, and walking through town you understand why almost immediately.

Two great cathedrals, Anglican and Catholic, stand only a few blocks apart. Both have been part of Armidale for well over a century, and both are worth stopping in front of for longer than you’d planned.

I wandered out to the University of New England as well, mostly to see Booloominbah, the grand old nineteenth-century mansion that eventually became part of university life.

 

A GRAND OLD HOUSE ON THE HILL

There’s something about a beautiful old building being given another life rather than knocked down that I find enormously satisfying.

Ben’s promised me a counter meal tonight with “the boys,” as he insists on calling men now in their sixties, and I’m rather looking forward to hearing which stories survive from their school days.

This is properly his territory.

 

BEN WAS BACK ON HOME TURF

He still remembers which streets led to which teacher’s house, which feels like its own kind of local history.

We came up for the Armidale Cup, but between the cathedrals, the leafy streets and Ben reliving his childhood one pub at a time, the racing turned out to be just the beginning of the story.

If a high-country town with a bit of soul appeals, keep Armidale in mind when the Cup comes around again.

________________________________________________

THE ARMIDALE CUP REPORT
13 March 2026

​

SIXTY-ONE AND A HALF KILOS

By Armidale, Tommy had learnt one thing about Kenny.

A big weight didn’t frighten him.

Finn tapped Uzziah, number three.

“Sixty-one and a half kilos,” Kenny said.

“He can carry it.”

Tommy looked over.

“You say that. You’re not carrying it.”

Kirk Matheson settled Uzziah just behind the leaders, close enough to strike whenever he wanted.

Mystery Lad took them along in front.

Coming towards the turn, Kenny could see Uzziah travelling.

“He’s got plenty.”

Matheson waited.

Then he let him go.

Uzziah swept past Mystery Lad and suddenly there wasn’t much of a contest left.

The big weight didn’t stop him.

Neither did anything else.

Uzziah won the Armidale Cup by nearly three lengths.

Finn folded the race book.

“Sixty-one and a half.”

Kenny nodded.

“You mentioned that.”

Tommy started walking.

“Good. Now can we find Ben and these bloody schoolmates of his?”

Finn laughed.

“Apparently they’re still ‘the boys’.”

Kenny shook his head.

“At their age?”

Tommy looked at him.

“Careful.”