Bourton Vale Centre Members
Bourton Vale Equestrian Centre
Pony Club entered a team for the Triathlon hosted by the North Cotswold PC on the 7th October. For some of them, this was their very first attempt with one having never shot a gun until 2 days before the event!
The team consisted of Georgina Rigg, Annabelle Rigg, Saskia Kemp, Georgie Robotham and Megan Gibson with Jake Launchbury and Antonia Oxford also from the yard but representing the North Cotswold PC as they have their own ponies.
Shooting takes place first, with 5 practise shots before 2 sets of 5 competition shots. With a maximum of 1000 points available the BVEC team did very well with scores ranging from 520 to a very credible 720.
Next was the running, where the under 12s run 1000 metres, but Georgie Rigg as a junior at 14 yrs had too run 1500 metres. The target time for maximum points is 4 minutes for the 1000 metres and 5.4 for the 1500 with extra (accelerator) points awarded for anything faster than that!
“With our mini times ranging from 4.19 minutes to 5.18 minutes the girls produced some good scores and were surprised how far 1000 metres was to run! Some very weary legs and red faces crossed the finishing line!” said Burton Vale EC representative Leanne Luanchbury.
A break to recover and get refreshed before swimming in the afternoon - the object being to swim as many lengths as you can in 2 minutes (3 minutes for juniors) with the target for 1000 points being 125 metres in 2 minutes - again bonus points can be earned for anything over.
“This phase surprises the first time competitors the most - 2 minutes feels like 10 when you are swimming flat out! Starting off like torpedos the pace was hard to keep up but they all floundered on and nobody drowned! Swimming between 72 and 96 metres we had a good enough range of scores for the team to take overall 6th place.
Usually there is a riding phase and the whole competition takes place over 2 days, but we chose a one day for our first time. The riding is over a XC course which will include negotiating a gate and getting off and on for a slip rail. A maximum score of 1400 points is gained for a clear round - our next aim!” added Leanne.
What is great about these competitions is that you can do well by being strong at one or two elements and weak at another, or by being average at all phases and not particularly good at any of them. The competitors are all very friendly, there is always an improvement in scores second time out and ongoing as fitness progresses, and you don’t have to have a top pony to take part.
Pictured are
1, Team left to right; Saskia Kemp, Annabelle Rigg, Georgina Rigg, BVEC yard Manager Matt Waters, Georgie Robotham, Megan Gibson and Jake Launchbury 2, Saskia Kemp 3, Georgina Rigg 4, Proudly sporting their rosettes from left to right; Antonia Oxford, Georgie Robotham, Saskia Kemp, Annabelle Rigg, Georgina Rigg and Megan Gibson
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