The club won the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Racing NSW Country and Provincial Awards night.

The award was given to the club for an outstanding achievement made during the year.

Any county or provincial racing club in NSW could nominate for the award.

Five finalists were in the running to win the award.

The Coonamble, Dubbo, Mudgee, Warren race clubs and Shoalhaven were all in the running to win the award.

Shoalhaven City Turf Club’s Chief Executive Officer, Lynn Locke, said the nomination could have been drawn from any aspect of a club and did not necessarily have to be racing oriented.

“As long as it was something that enhanced racing,” she said.

“We were fortunate enough to receive a NSW government infrastructure grant for over $500 000 and so we put this in for our outstanding achievement.

“It’s a lot of work to get those grants and we were successful in being named the winners.”

Mrs Locke said it was the first time the club had won the award and in the past, they had been finalists in a different category.

“We have never won an award and I been here 14-years and so it was pretty exciting,” she said

Mrs Locke said winning the achievement award was a big achievement.

“We could not have done it without the support from Gareth Ward, Shelley Hancock and Paul Green,” she said.

“They have been great supporters of our club and really helped get the Minister for Racing Paul Toole here which allowed us to present our case to him and help push it through.”

With the infrastructure grant, the club extended its upstairs dining room, installed an assessable lift and with some additional Federal Government funding from Ann Sudmalis they built a disabled car park.

Mrs Locke said the work had doubled the venue's capacity.

“This means we can hold more events which is good for local employment. We now have a great facility and we just want everyone to use it,” she said.

The venue is perfect for wedding, parties and functions in general.

Mrs Locke thinks the club’s best day are ahead of it.

She said, on a racing front, said the local industry was strong.

Around 18 trainers train at the Shoalhaven track and many take part in the Sydney race calendar.

“I think country racing is growing,” Mrs Locke said

“Our local trainers are great and are great supporters of our club as well and so we are a very lucky club.

“It (racing) is really going good and is a growing industry.”