2015 National’s
Zone 16 riders have all arrived at Murray Bridge SA safe and sound after a long drive across the Hay Plain of NSW.
FINAL UPDATE – 4 October
OMG what a day for zone 16 riders at the Nationals. The day started with mounted games – the junior team taking out the national championship. Great work Rhys Smith and Andie Biondic.
The senior mounted games team took on heavy competition to place second. Congratulations Lauren and Katie Slater and Tom Thorek.
The eventers all passed trot up to take on a difficult show jump course. Brianna Smith placing 4th and as a member of the junior eventing team, her result contributing to the overall outcome that saw the NSW Junior team win the junior eventing championship. Our NSW seniors rode really well to place second in the championship taking on some formidable WA competition. Congratulations Adele Clarke, Franny Barnard, Ellie Miller, Loren Slater and Kathleen McGrath.
The Grand Prix show jumping was also today with a course that tested all the riders – with very few clear rounds. Sigi Schneider rode amazingly on a very difficult course to do zone 16 proud.
The dressage championships were extremely close with the senior dressage team placing second in the championship. Beautiful riding from Millie Burton.
The tetrathlon riders did extremely well and have definitely sparked interest for a zone 16 competition. Great effort Rhys Smith, Brianna Smith, Katie Slater, Kathleen McGrath and Myf Clarke.
The championship may have been won by Victoria but in our book zone 16 was also a winner. Congratulations to all our riders and thank you to the amazing parents for making this all possible. We are all now getting ready for the long track home and as so beautifully said by Ellie “we are all travelling with a bank of memories and new friends”.
Thankyou pony club SA for a great nationals!
UPDATE – Saturday 3 October
Today saw competition heat up in extremely hot conditions (34 degrees) but we are expecting 36 tomorrow! Mounted games team competition started with teams on parade. The day proved very successful for our riders -our juniors placing first and seniors second with another day of competition tomorrow.
Our eventers loaded up to transport to our XC venue. The course was really quite technical and long. Congrats to Adele Clarke and Brianna Smith for jumping clear. Adele is currently placing 4th in seniors and Brianna 5th in juniors.
Our tetrathalon riders also completed the riding phase which was a mix between XC and show jumping with two gates to open in the middle of the course. Rhys Smith and Brianna Smith went clear in the junior competition. Tomorrow sees our competition come to a close with a few events before we finish:
- Eventing show jumping
- Mounted games
- Show jumping Grand Prix
- Tetrathlon results
We are all getting very hot and tired and will be glad to see the end of this red dust but are looking forward to a great last day and closing party with the state inflatable challenge.
UPDATE: Friday 2 October
Wow what a big day of riding, so much on and all riders competing and representing their state with great sportsmanship.
The Dressage championships finished today – huge congrats to Millie Burton with a 5th place. Show jumping round 2 saw another really technical course and unfortunately a few poles falling for the NSW team. Mounted games warm up started today with both juniors and seniors placing second in the warm up competition – a great result again for the NSW riders in stiff competition. Eventing dressage was also on today with all riders doing really well and looking forward to a great day XC tomorrow. The course is set and looks amazing, and having walked it the consensus is that the course will definitely test our riders. Tetrathlon swim phase was also held today in a very hot and shallow pool – great swim for all our team members. The last phase – the riding phase – is set for Saturday afternoon.
UPDATE: Thursday 1 October
Start of championship competition today for both dressage and show jumping. A beautiful test this morning for Millie Burton, placing 7th – great result in strong competition. Myf Clarke represented us well in the invitational medium dressage doing a beautiful test in a strong field.
In the show jumping arena, Sigi Schneider worked hard on a very technical show jump course and did a great job.
The tetrathlon riders went out to the shooting range and performed really well with most shots for all riders hitting the target. A great result especially as we haven’t used air pistols before!
Huge thanks to our support crew watching keenly through the window.
Friday 2 October (Day 4) sees the final day of dressage championships, eventing dressage, final day of show jumping championships, swim phase of tetrathlon, mounted games warm up competition and cross country course walk. A busy day indeed!
UPDATE: Wednesday 30 Sept
As day 2 comes to an end we see warm up eventing dressage and show jumping finished.
Congrats to Ellie Miller placing 3rd in eventing show jumping.
Our tetrathlon runners completed the 1500m run today. Great work by Rhys Smith and Katie Slater achieving optimum time with our other runners very close. Amazing work in the afternoon heat by all.
We are all getting ready for a big day of competition on day three which sees the start of dressage championship, show jumping championships, shooting and invitational dressage competitions.
UPDATE: Tuesday 29 Sept
All riders passed trot up which is a great start. Warm up dressage also was performed today for our dressage and eventing riders – with all riders doing extremely well in strong competition. Huge congratulations to those riders placing today:
Fran Barnard 2nd – eventing dressage
Millie Burton 5th – dressage
We also had a great time at the shooting range. Luckily we had access to some great instructors with all the competitors hitting the target in the practice session. Our riders enjoyed the opening dinner before an early night so they were ready for warm up show jumping , warm up eventing show jumping and the running phase of the tetrathlon Wednesday.
