Last of the Summer Wine! Nick Gauntlett and Francis Whittington walk the Equi-Trek Bramham CCI3* XC. Photo by Samantha Clark.
Course Designer Ian Stark has made a few changes to the Bramham cross country this year — some that the riders will welcome, for example the roofed house at fence 3 that caused so much trouble last year has gone — but others might have them scratching their heads and losing a bit more sleep.
Like his riding in his heyday, it’s what Ian is now renowned for — big, bold, galloping courses that you have to attack and you have to be brave, and there’s certainly plenty to do up here in Yorkshire this weekend.
Both U.S. team coach David O’Connor and CCI3* competitor Lauren Kieffer have come here straight from Derek Di Grazia’s CCI3* in Bromont, Canada, and I was surprised that David thought the latter has more terrain, “I thought Bromont this year was really strong, I thought it was a big course and it really rode exceptionally well. There are a lot of places here where you can put your hands down and just keep galloping for a long time, at Bromont you don’t get to do that.”
However, David added that this is his first trip back to Bramham in twelve years and he thinks it’s looks really good. Lauren agreed, adding that it was always a confidence booster knowing you could trust Derek’s courses would ride well if you ride them well, and she is hoping for a similar result this weekend.
I’m going to try and get back out on the course with a couple of riders to go over some of the more complicated combinations in some detail, but in the meantime here’s a quick look at the CCI3* course.
I was lucky enough to walk round with Nick Gauntlett and Francis Whittington who are like two very old men reminiscing about the ‘good old days’ when they first came to Bramham (about a hundred years ago!) and also lucky enough to bump into Yogi Breisner briefly but he quickly overtook us old fogeys!
What they all said was that not a single fence on the course could be underestimated — wise words indeed! Go cross country at Bramham and Go Eventing!
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- The First Fence
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- Fence 2
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- Fence 3
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- Where it begins to get serious: Fence 4 – two corners to a narrow brush
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- The narrow brush
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- Fence 5
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- Fence 6 – a step up to a skinny to a ditch and brush
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- Fence 7 – for the Leeds Festival (music) held each year at Bramham Park
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- Fence 8 – the original London 2012 Olympic fence
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- Fence 9A
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- Fence 9A
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- Fence 9B & 10
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- Fence 11 The Keyhole
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- Fence 12 A & B the water and then sharp right (or you can see the option for D coming back towards you)
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- Fence 12 C & D off a sharp right turn from the first water pond A & B
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- Fence 13
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- The Bramham Grounds Team are working all out to make sure the going is the best it possibly can be
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- Fence 14
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- Fences 15 and 16 – the coffin
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- Fence 17
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- Fence 18 – straightforward but for the severe camber
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- The sun and moon fence at Fence 19 A and B – definitely to be respected. The moon element is narrow and upright and terrain in between them both is tricky to anticipate.
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- Fence 20 – Ditch and Brush
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- Fences 21 & 22 – a double of corners across the road towards home
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- Fences 23 & 24: the final water combination.
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- Fence 23B
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- The drop into the water on the back side of 23 B
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- Fence 24, the final element of the water. In typical British understatement Nick Gauntlett drily remarked, “There’s just enough of an angle to it to make it tricky” Right!
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- Fence 25
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- Fences 26 and 27 – in case you thought you could gallop all the way home!
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- The final fence – don’t miss!
