1st July 2014
Britain’s quartet of riders emerged from the Polish leg of the FEI Nations Cup of Eventing in second place after a weekend of extremely closely fought competition. Their result put them at the head of the current Nations Cup rankings leader-board ahead of France on 27 points, Germany on 20 points.
The German team who took the top honours were represented by the majority of their London 2012 squad of riders, including reigning World and Olympic Champion Michael Jung riding his gold medal winning La Biosthetique-Sam FBW, who took the individual honours. Britain was represented by a mixed team of experienced riders along with rising stars, none of whom have ever ridden at Senior Championship level.
The three top teams at Strzegom scored as follows:
Germany 122.8
Great Britain 159.2
Netherlands 253.4
Team Manager Philip Surl commented on the team, who are supported by the UK Sport National Lottery funded World Class Programme: “The team posted excellent results all round with really solid performances from everyone. It definitely ranks up there as one of our best Nations Cup performances to date against a very strong German team overall.”
The best of the Brits, and in the CICO competition overall, was Sarah Bullimore riding her own and Christopher Gillespie’s Valentino V, who finished in fourth place after Germany’s Michael Jung, Dirk Schrade and Sandra Auffarth took the top three spots. Sarah and the Dutch-bred 12 year old gelding (by Perion) kicked off the weekend in style posting a 44.6 in the dressage phase, and finishing on 48.2 following a very influential cross country phase and then showjumping clear.
Nations Cup regular Ros Canter and her own Dutch-bred 10 year old gelding Zenshera (by Guidam) also put in an incredible effort to finish in fifth place, adding just three penalties in the cross country phase to their dressage test mark of 45, as well as jumping clear.
Katy Hurst, who got her first taste of European Championships riding for Britain in the 2013 Two Star European Championships with her own and Lee McCarthy’s Dutch-bred 11 year old Gelding Weston IV (by Norway) made their Nations Cup debut, finishing in an extremely credible seventh place. The combination moved up from 21st place after dressage in to their final placing after a solid cross country round then showjumping clear.
Nicky Roncoroni finished individually in 16th place with Lorna McWilliams and Janey Barclay Roncoroni’s Irish-bred nine year old gelding, Watts Burn (by Zero Watt). In addition to her Nations Cup performance, Nicky added to a fantastic weekend by winning a strong CCI3* class with Janey Barclay Roncoroni’s 10 year gelding Stonedge who is also Irish-bred (by Frodo Baggins).
Team information:
- Sarah Bullimore, aged 41 from Keysoe, Bedfordshire, riding Christopher Gillespie and her own Valentino V.
- Ros Canter, aged 28 from Louth, Lincolnshire, riding her own Zenshera.
- Katy Hurst, aged 32 from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, riding Weston IV
- Nicky Roncoroni, aged 35 from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, riding Watts Burn owned by Lorna McWilliams and Janey Barclay Roncoroni.
The series continues below. The squad for Aachen has now been announced, view the announcement online.
CICO 3* Aachen (GER) 15 – 20 July 2014
CICO 3* Malmö (SWE) 1 – 3 August 2014
CICO 3* Montelibretti (ITA) 19 – 21 September 2014
CICO 3* Waregem (BEL) 25 – 28 September 2014
CCIO 3* Boekelo (NED) 9 – 12 October 2014
Source: British Eventing
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