British riders scored one gold and two bronze medals at the TREC European Championships at the weekend. Young rider Kate Ellison, 20, scored an individual gold medal while the young rider team took bronze. Not to be shown up by the younger riders, Britain’s senior team also scored a bronze medal, with France winning gold.
In fact France swept the board at the Exmoor-based championships. Not only did the French senior team score gold, but so did the young riders: senior team member Pierre Guillaume took individual gold with compatriot Nadia Fontaine winning the silver medal.
The 42 kilometre course was demanding and required plenty of stamina. “As befits a European championship, the course was technically difficult and arduous and a number of competitors found it more challenging than they could manage,” said Rob Jones, TREC national organiser.
At 7.10pm 40 competitors were still negotiating the final phases of the course and officials took the decision to stop the competition at 25 kilometres. All competitors went into the second day with only the penalties up to the 25 kilometre mark, including those who had already completed.
Gold medal winning young rider Kate Ellison, who is just 20, partnered Spice of Life in the championships. Ellison’s performance helped boast the team up the leaderboard, but good performances from Kathryn Bean (Danny), Helen Paine (Flossi) and Julia Knight-Jones (Fleetmeed Ross) secured the bronze medal.
The bronze medal-winning senior team consisted of Hilary Barnard (Rhinefield Impulse), Caroline Brammer (Rhubon), Deborah Swann (Urban Legend) and Paul Turner (Magic).
Austria went home with senior team silver and individual bronze, while Portugal earned young rider team silver and individual bronze.
For full results, visit www.equinetourism.co.uk or www.eurotrec.com.
