Inter- Regionals 7th & 8th August 2010
10th June 2010
After many years at the helm, Maggie Maguire has decided to step down from the job of sorting out the Inter Regional Teams and winners.
We all owe Maggie a debt of gratitude for bringing this competition to the fore and keeping it real by offering goals achievable by all teams.
We are very happy to announce that Ellie Head has offered to take over the organisation, with the help of Hannah Head and Peggy Sofley as scorers, and we wish Ellie’s team well.
When asked for any comments Ellie said:
“I am really looking forward to taking on the Inter Regionals and would like to thank Maggie Maguire for her help and support. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the Ridgeway Barbury Castle Ride and hope all the teams are geared up for a great competition”
Ellie will be sending letters and rules to the Chefs & Groups within a couple of days but should the need arise contact Ellie on:
Good luck to the Regions in 2010
**************************
Inter-Regional Team Championships
This annual competition was originally devised by the Regional Groups with the aim of encouraging participation from all ages and levels of experience. To a great extent the event is still organized by the groups each year with ride organizer and the Regional Team Chefs working closely to produce a true Championship which is one of the Major Events of the EGB Calendar.
The underlying concept is to produce teams with a balanced cross section of members and participants from within the regions giving riders at all levels experience within a Team environment. The younger and more novice members especially gain a unique insight into the world of competitive Endurance Riding within a protected, secure competition where they can benefit from the support and encouragement of the Chef D/Equipe and the more experienced Team members.
The Inter-Regional Championship also provides an opportunity for Selectors and Chef to see up and coming talent that can be encouraged to progress to Home International and eventually International Teams. It provides the first level of the defined progression identified by EGB for talented young endurance riders under the nationally recognized TASS scheme and for this reason the teams ideally should include juniors/young riders at all levels.
The event usually takes place over two days, longer Endurance Rides on the first day and shorter CR’s on the second [so that Team members can support each other and novices can learn from the more experienced.]
Participating Regions
- Wessex
- Scotland, North & East Yorkshire, Cumbria, Durham & Cleveland and Northumberland & Teeside.
- Cromwell, Leicestershire & Rutland and Iceni.
- Lindum, Nottinghamshire and West Riding.
- Offa’s Dyke, Mid-Wales and South & West Wales
- South East. Mid-South
- South West.
- Cheshire, Derbyshire and Lancashire.
- Cotswolds & Heart of England.
Classes
this may vary from year to year depending on venue and subject to rule variations but the team are likely be asked to provide members to compete at the following levels.
- 100km Endurance Ride
- 80km Endurance Ride
- 80km CR
- 65km CR
- 50km CR
- 40km CR Novice and open
Team make up
again this may vary slightly but the 2009 rules state that..
The Team must include
- 2x ER’s[Advanced Riders and horses]
- 2x 65km[ Open Riders and horses]
- 2x 40km[ Novice Riders and Horses]
- Each team should include 3 YR or Juniors
Members who are interested in participating in the Inter Regional Championship for this year should contact their Group Chairperson in the first instance, who will be able to pass their details along to the current team chef for the Region.
Interegionals at Barbury Castle on 7-9th August 2009
Report by Rebecca Parsler.
 Rebecca & Natasha – photo by Eric Jones |
|
I went to the Interegionals at Barbury Castle on7-9th August 2009. Me , my Dad and my big sister Tasha had been selected for the Eastern Region team, from Cromwell group. Gilly, the chef d’equipe, took my pony Havannah in her trailer with her horse because we only have space for two in our trailer. We followed up the next day with my sisters and Dads ponies Talisman and Shine.
When we got to the venue, after looking out the windows at all the huge fields and rolling hills, saying how fun it would be the next day, we found where Havannah had been put out in a corral and unloaded Shine and Tally. As we were bringing them to the gate to the corral area, Havannah saw us and jumped out of her corral and galloped across the field ducking and jumping other peoples corrals as she went, causing a bit of a spectacle for all the people setting up camp! We managed to catch her when she met the wooden fence and led her back to the corrals with Talisman and Shine.
After setting up camp we had a team meeting, met all the other members of our regional team and got our bright pink kit, Dad looked lovely. We later on went to eat at a restaurant with very slow service and a lack of bacon for Tasha. We eventually got back very late, but Mum and Dad were soon out again in search of Mum’s left behind handbag. An hour or so later all the drama was over and we got to sleep.
The next day we collected in the ponies and groomed them before heading off to the vet. It took ages to get through the vet as Havannah’s legendary low heart rate had hit its record at 24 bpm and all the vets including the chief vet all came over as they didn’t believe it. Havannah did get jokingly accused of ‘cheating’ because she drops and skips heartbeats all over the place. Once we were finished there we returned to the trailer and finished grooming and tacking up. Me and Natasha put white bows in our ponies manes and sprayed slightly wonky silver stars on their bums, which did get some comments from our team.
Setting off along the racecourse with fellow team member Pippi on a borrowed horse all the ponies were energetic and pulling to go. The first part of the route is on grass track the whole way, which is good to get a decent start, almost the whole ride was on downs and ridge ways with little roadwork. We got back in good time and got vetted, Havannah got a grade 1 and shine a grade 4. Sadly Talisman was vetted out and our team vet confirmed that he had thrown a splint and prescribed 6 weeks off work. (not such good news for Dad’s plans for the rest of the season)
After we saw the horses relaxing once again in thier corralls we went up to the trade stands for lunch. Mum had spotted a cheap free ‘n easy saddle she wanted but unfortunately it was gone by then. We were sitting above the vetting area eating cakes and watched a pair of riders having a racing finish and also the only 160km rider to finish and joined in the cheering when she crossed the line and passed the vet.
At the prize giving there was more cheering as the Barbury Champion was presented with her rug and rosettes. Our regional team was placed 7th and me and Tasha also got a 3rd place young riders medal. All in all it was a good ride at a great venue and I’d like to go again.
Rebecca Parsler
