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GREAT
BRITAIN GETS SILVER |
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| Riders from the U.K.
confirmed their progress in this comparatively new sport in both the
World Championships and the Belgian Open Young Riders Championships in
Vielsalm over 2 days of competition. Britain took the Team Silver behind
France, and British Riders topped the leader board in two of the three
phases. Young Becky Hine from Cumbria took the overall Individual Silver
in the Young Riders Competition.
Although the French took the Championships for the second year in a row, they were hard pressed every step of the way by the British team of Anthea Kendrick, Paul Turner, Stephen Ramsay and David Hay-Thorburn. These were more than ably supported by the two individual riders Faye Hamilton and Ros Evans. On the first day, Anthea Kendrick put in an excellent performance to win the navigational section of the competition. Faye Hamilton finished equal third, with David Hay-Thorburn and Stephen Ramsay in 9th and 10th respectively. Becky Hine, on a borrowed horse, was lying 4th at this stage in the Young Riders competition. On day two there was no let up in the rain, and the riders were faced with a tough course in very unpleasant conditions. However, the British riders are fairly used to rain and the conditions largely didn’t bother them. David Hay-Thorburn and Brenfield Mhairi made short work of the difficulties scoring an outstanding 144 points to win this Phase. Fellow team members Stephen Ramsay and Paul Turner were right up there with David in 5th and 6th place. For the Young Riders, Becky Hine won the final Phase by an astonishing 20 points ahead of her nearest rival. Amy Gibson and Richard Elliot both put in excellent performances to show that there is plenty of young talent coming through the ranks for the future. Rob Jones, British Chef d’Equipe said: "These championships showed that TREC is becoming a very serious competition, and that Britain is doing remarkably well. The French Chef d’Equipe admitted he considered that the British offered the most serious challenge. With a good sponsor we could win next year."
WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIPS Overall
Individual:
Phase winners: POR(Orienteering)
Anthea Kendrick (230 pts) YOUNG
RIDERS Phase
winners
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