Photo via the Bishop Burton Twitter page.
The junior riders were on hand at Bishop Burton College in the UK this weekend to contest the European Junior Championships. UK rider Anna Wilks successfully piloted Touch of Pleasure through the weekend with nothing added to their dressage score of 41.2 to secure the individual gold medal. Anna is based at The Billy Stud with William and Pippa Funnell.
Ireland’s Cathal Daniels and Rioghan Rua were hot on Anna’s heels, also finishing on their dressage score to take home individual silver. Germany’s Jerome Robine will go home with bronze aboard Quaddeldou R.
Eric Winter’s cross country course shook up the leaderboard after dressage yesterday, allowing pairs who rode double clear to move into a better position going into show jumping. At the end of the day today, though, just 2.5 points separated the top five overall.
For the team competition, Ireland has taken home the coveted gold with a final score of 149.1. Germany secured silver medal position on a score of 151.2, and France is in bronze position with a 159.4 overall.
According to the Eventing Worldwide Facebook page, Great Britain lodged an appeal in order to have France removed from their spot on the podium. The reason for the appeal was that French rider had outside assistance when they were close to going off course during show jumping today. The standings were upheld, however, and Great Britain ends their weekend in fourth place.
European Junior Eventing Championships: [Website] [Scores]
The European Championships YouTube page has been posting updates from each day of competition. Check out these great videos for sights and sounds from the Junior European Championships.
