Allerton Park July 2010
Well, another event at Allerton Park has come and gone – and what an event it was! A record entry of 70 drivers - from as far afield as mid-Wales and Essex - across no less than 15 classes meant that everyone on the organising committee was kept well and truly busy! The weather was kind to us although there was a bit of light drizzle on the Saturday and it was a bit blustery at times. The two dressage arenas saw a mix of tests with John Wilkinson producing the best of the club novice tests and Birgitta Kronqvist the best of the Intermediates. In the open section Wendy Stromberg took the top slot and best of all the multiples was John Stafford with his horse pair. The cones proved influential once again with only six drivers out of 70 performing a double clear.
The BBQ on Saturday evening was extremely well attended and I think I heard the chairman say he would be cooking about 200 steaks! The food was fantastic and many people took the opportunity to boogie on down with live band The Directors in the marquee afterwards. (If you would like to see a little bit stylish dancing, check out the club’s facebook page and scroll down until you find a video clip entitled ‘Party in the Park’!)
Marathon day started in the rain but this luckily stopped before the first driver was off at 10 o’clock, leaving behind ideal conditions for the horses and ponies. Sections were almost entirely within the beautiful estate grounds, never once touching a public road which is a real treat in this day and age! The seven marathon obstacles each produced their own challenges but by and large were all open and inviting to drive. In the pre-novice class a delighted Allison Mullany from Co. Durham notched up her first ever win from Peter Carter. In the club novice classes father and daughter duo of John and Tara Wilkinson took the horse and pony classes respectively, whilst the intermediate classes fell to Rosie Mould (pony) and Wendy Mason (horse). In the open classes Jane Wilson won the open pony and Lyn Longbottom, who has been knocking on the door all season took the open horse.
In the various multiple classes the Grumpy Old Man (Douglas Strachan) won the club pony pairs and Pat Cooper the club tandems/teams class. Entries for the regional section of the competition were somewhat thin on the ground due in part to the fact that the original date for Allerton had to be abandoned, placing it in the middle of two big Nationals. However, club drivers acquitted themselves well here also, David Wagstaff-Myers winning the Intermediate horse, Christine Twigg the pony pairs and Robert Bowman the horse fours.
Results:
Club:
Pre-Novice: Alison Mullany
Novice Pony: Tara Wilkinson
Novice Horse: John Wilkinson
Intermediate Pony: Rosie Mould
Intermediate Horse: Wendy Mason
Open Pony: Jane Wilson
Open Horse: Lyn Longbottom
Pony Pairs: Douglas Strachan
Multiples: Pat Cooper
Regional:
Novice Qalifier (pony) Emily Ham
Novice Qualifier (horse) Janet Reeves
Intermediate pony: BK
Intermediate horse: David Wagstaff-Myers
Open pony: Julie Tomasik
Open Horse: Susan Henry
Steve and Janet Nichols passing the magnificent Allerton Castle
Photo by courtesy of Mike Watts (c) www.mikewatts.com
Escrick Park Two Day Event April 2010
The weather decided to be kind to us at last after loosing the first "PLAE" day, bestowing us with two glorious days of sunshine for the weekend.
Alec Jeffrey's team were able to complete construction of the new obstacle just in time for the weekend after many days of hard work and it proved to be a great addition to our facility here at Escrick Park.
As the surface was newly completed it was decided to use it sparingly for this first event, but the many options available inside the stockade will prove interesting for future events.
Fifty entrants met to do battle across eleven classes which included the two novice qualifiers. Emily Ham – who came all the way from mid-Wales – took the Pony Qualifier with Deborah Daniel in second and junior driver Ross Wilkinson in third. The competition here was very close, with only seven penalties separating all three drivers. In the horse class it was Steve Nichols who prevailed, claiming an eleven penalty lead in the dressage from John Wilkinson (father of Ross). However, John put up a determined fight on the marathon, where he was able to claw back six of those penalties by putting up the fastest time. However, it wasn’t quite enough so Steve took the Windsor ticket with John second and Trevor Holmes in third place.
Eight drivers fought for the honours in the Open Horse class with Patti Atkinson coming out on top. In Fourth place after the dressage behind Judy Hilditch (who was trying the advanced test for the first time) both drivers managed a double clear in the cones meaning there was all to play for on the marathon. Patti had a scorching round through the obstacles whereas sadly, Judy drove the wrong side of the E gate in Obstacle 6 resulting in her elimination. Patti therefore took the class, the rosette for the fastest open marathon and that for the lowest overall score of the competition!
In the Intermediate Pony Rosie Mould opened her account in the dressage by a narrow margin over newly-promoted Heather Clark. However, by dint of having less penalties than her rivals in the cones and also putting up the fastest marathon, Birgitta Kronqvist came up from behind to win the class.
An excellent weekend was had by all, the new obstacle at the sheep station gaining much admiration. The 21st birthday party which was also being held at Escrick on the Friday night led to stewards Karen and Steve Taylor having something of a fright, when a drunken reveller made his way into their lorry in the middle of the night! Steve kindly but firmly ejected the young man who was unable to explain himself. After some reflection and worrying that the young man might suffer some awful fate and succumb to hypothermia, Karen then spent the best part of half an hour searching for him with her coat on over her pajamas and a torch. However, he was nowhere to be found but I’m sure the Taylors will make doubly sure they always lock their lorry door in future!
Other class winners:
Pre-Novice: Jodie Dick 132.65
Novice Pony: Anne Hampshire 175.84
Novice Horse: Penny Hartley 201.14
Intermediate Horse: Graham Heath 105.30
Open Pony: Glenys Ellis 109.88
Pairs: Chris Hillman 174.36
Tandems/Teams: Pat Cooper 147.17
Steve Nichols on his way to winning the Single Horse novice qualifier