Championship Team 2009 - Whaddon Chase Pony Club
The inaugural Pony Club National Endurance Championships was held on 20th September 2009 at the College Equestrian Centre near Bedford. Although this was the first year, 12 branches competed with riders travelling from as far afield as Wales and Yorkshire. Pony Club Chairman Cherry Michell, Endurance Chairperson Robert Blane and Nicola Slater from sponsors Carr & Day & Martin presented a huge pile of wonderful rosettes and prizes. All said how delighted they were with both the number and standard of the entries.
A dedicated team of Whaddon Chasers have been working hard all year to qualify for this event, clocking up in excess of 1500km of competitive rides between them (not to mention all the hours of both mounted and unmounted training they put in!). In the event we are proud to say that their dedication obviously paid off. All the WCPC riders produced excellent results in very full and hotly contested classes.
Some mention also has to go to the team of dedicated parents and friends who provided essential back up crew in the form of both escort riders and ground support. The day of the Championships was brilliantly sunny, which is very nice if you are sitting around, but not so good if you need to ride 30-40km in 3 hrs! Without the positive army of people driving round the Bedfordshire countryside with buckets of water, sponges and bottles of drink it would not have been possible for our team riders to achieve the results they did. So a major thank you to Nesta, Jane S, Peter, Jane A, Jacqui, Kim, Rachel, Maria, Celia, Katrine, Karen and Aaron. (I think we also managed to prove that Whaddon Chase really know how to organize a killer barbeque!)
Results:
Not surprisingly the Novice classes attracted the most entries in this first year. However, from a National Committee perspective, what was most pleasing was the sheer quality of those entries. The standard was unbelievably high and there was almost nothing between the first 10 or so riders in both sections. We were therefore extremely pleased with the following results…
Junior Novice
Whaddon Whizzers team 1st – Katie Spaughton, Hannah Maskell and Bryony Parsler
Whaddon Wonders team 3rd- Eve Knights, Louise Gallavan and Kathryn Naysmith
Katie Spaughton individual 1st
Hannah Maskell individual 5th
Senior Novice
Team 2nd – Beth Brown, James and Peter Alexander
James Alexander individual 2nd
The Open class was not as full but the standard was no less high. Once again placings were incredibly tight, especially between the top 5 riders, with no more than 3 or 4 penalty points between them (out of a possible 55). The eventual winner put in a stunning performance that would not have been out of place on any affiliated National team. All our Open riders can feel justly proud of themselves for the following results in such a tough competition…
Senior Open
Team 2nd – Rebecca and Natasha Parsler and Gemma Maskell
Rebecca Parsler individual 2nd and EGB grade 1
Natasha Parsler individual 5th and EGB grade 2
For a full list of results please go to
Everyone showed a great team spirit, helping each other out and all seemed to have really enjoyed the day.
For full results and more information please see the main Pony Club website at http://www.pcuk.org/Disciplines/Endurance/Endurance-Championships/
