TEAM FAIRFAX JUNIORS 2ND IN HAGEN NATIONS CUP
Thursday 13 June 2013
The Fairfax Junior Team representing Great Britain came 2nd in the Nations Cup In Hagen today (14th June) just 1 penalty behind France who took first position.
It was 18 year-old Tim Wilks from Henley-on-Thames with Burg’s Surprise B, a 10 year-old bay gelding owned by In Showjumpers who were the first to go for the team. An unfortunate elimination in the first round and them retiring in the second saw them automatically become the drop score for the team with the remaining three competitors scores all counting.
Laura Robinson, aged 18 years from Northallerton were next to go for the team with Cree Cruiser, a 14 year-old chestnut gelding owned by her father Geoffrey. Their performance was second to none producing a clear in both rounds within the time allowed to finish on a zero penalty score. Their double clears were a rarity in the competition which saw only two other competitors achieve the same across the forty eight taking part.
James Shore aged 18 years from Northwich followed Laura in terms of order of go within the team with Max Hauri’s 11 year-old bay gelding Vitales. Having left all the jumps intact he was naturally disappointed to incur 2 time penalties. Their second round saw a pole fall accruing 4 penalties and an unfortunate 2 more time penalties having once again finished outside the time allowed.
Jessica Mendoza, aged 17 years from Chippenham took the role of anchor rider for the team with John Robert’s 12 year-old brown mare Spirit T. In her inimitable style, Jessica put in a brilliant clear putting the team back on course for the chance of a placing high in the line up. Her second round was equally stylish, leaving all the fences clear she incurred just 1 penalty as a result of stopping the clock just outside the time allowed.
With GB finishing on a total of 9 penalties it was then a ase of waiting to see how the other nations failed with France, Italy, Switzerland, Norway and ourselves all sitting extremely close to each other with literally a time fault deciding the placings. With the all teams bar Italy incurring faults, the placings kept changing right until the last moment but it was France who eventually proved themselves the winners with their 8 penalty score.
Great Britain slotted into 2nd just 1 penalty behind them relegating Italy into 3rd who finished on 10 penalties and Switzerland and Norway tying for 4th on 11 penalties. An extremely close competition with the top five placings being split by just a time fault between them all.
Earlier in the day the Childrens Team had finished in joint 7th place with Portugal. The team that had contested the Children’s Nations Cup was Olivia Poole, Rhiannon Lawrence, Maja Burnell and William Edwards.
The show continues through to Sunday with the Junior Nations Cup taking place on Saturday at 15:15 hrs local time. Further information and results on the show can be found by visiting www.psi-events.de
The British youth teams are sponsored by Fairfax Saddles. It is Fairfax’s primary aim to improve the performance of the competition horse. All the saddles and girths are developed using the most advanced technology and are tested extensively. All research and design work is carried out under the direction of Vanessa Fairfax, an ex-International showjumper and University qualified designer. The company is based in Walsall and manufactures all its own products.
The GB Showjumping Teams are strongly supported by the UK Sport Lottery funded BEF World Class Programme. They Pony teams are further supported by Champion Hats, Next and Animo.
.JPG "Sophia Rogers makes a winning return and Rachel Proudley claims a championship double at Pony of the Year Show")
