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Representing Britain
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Team GBR travel blog |
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| Tuesday 5 November | ||||||||||
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| Monday 4 November | ||||||||||
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Monday morning - all the British camp have now left. Susan and Roger set off on Sunday evening and hope to cross on Monday evening, weather permitting. The rest are panning a stay in Le Mans to be back on Tuesday. Thanks to Wilf for his help supporting Boyd and adding to the smooth operation of the camp. The organisers did a great job keeping everything to time. The closing ceremony went well, the arena was filled up with all the individual medal winners and the team media lists, so there were about 24 turnouts in the arena at one stage, all trotting and cantering round (depending on how long their legs were) with the chief steward directing the traffic. The speeches were short and the rain held off more or less. There was a brilliant rainbow over the show ground a one stage. |
 Nicola Baguely was the team's equine physio. |
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| Sunday 3 November | ||||||||||
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Rosanna Walters-Symons has won Silver medal in the Single Pony class, while Anna Grayston got Bronze in the Pony Pairs. Team GBR finished in 5th place, out of 9 nations. Two individual medals and 5th for team GB. Both roger and Rosanna did excellent rounds. It was very tense and after their rounds we waited and watched as other people made mistakes bringing our drivers up the places. Anna managed to maintain her bronze position and Emma did very well and finished in a good place and now looks forward to Breda in 2015. A few mistakes from Sarah dropped her one place, but she has really enjoyed herself this weekend and has learnt a lot. Last night we had a comic demonstration from a man driving 6 miniature Shetlands. He then took all the harness off them and controlled them with just a whip and hand signals. (see photo below) We also had the prize giving for the marathon. Roger was the fastest single driver in Obstacle 4, which had a very unusual prize of a 6 month old Pottok foal. It is a native French pony breed which makes about 13 hands and is used by the top French pony drivers. Roger won the prize and was presented with his foal in the main ring. It was completely unconcerned by the tractors and the applause. On Sunday, having considered all the options, Roger returned the foal to his breeder with thanks to him for his generous prize. The forecast was rain, but apart from the odd shower, it stayed fine which was a blessing. The course walking for the cones was 8.00 to 9.00 and the single pony class started at 9.15. The organiser provided the practice cones and no additional ones were allowed, so it meant the practice arena did not get filled up with masses of cones. While the drivers were out walking their cones course, all the grooms were out walking the ponies. Holly and Nicola did sterling working trotting up each pony and checking its heart rate to ensure they were fit to compete after Saturday's marathon. All ponies had faired well, which is critical especially as you must present yourself to the judge and a vet before you can leave the practice arena; you have to drive a figure of eight so they can check the ponies are OK. The cones course had 2 slaloms and a wave and the time was set so that you had to really push on. Roger and Rose were the first British competitors of the day. Roger did a clear round with 0.6 of a time penalty. Rosanna also did a clear round but was about 9 seconds too slow. There was one double clear which meant that Roger came 3rd in the cones. The end result gave a silver medal to Rosanna and Roger moved up to 5th overall. The scores were all fairly close, so it was a nail biting finish with Holly (the vet) needing to get her calculator out as none of us could do mental arithmetic under stress. Emma and Anna were next, with the Pairs class following on from the Singles. They both collected a few penalties but Anna had a good margin and managed to keep her bronze medal position. There was then a break for and hour and a half for lunch and the team drivers were allowed 15 minutes to walk the course again before their class started at 1:30. Sara tackled the course in a positive fashion but she did not make the time and had some balls down. Susan worked hard to keep her team in shape through the twisty course. Unfortunately they both lost a few places in this phase. Round up We all had a excellent week and learned a lot and gained a huge amount of experience. We had 2 old hands as pony team members, Rosanna who has been successful in the junior team, and 3 new team members. Looking at what contributed to their success, they cited the following (in no particular order): 4 sessions of team training with Boyd in the 6 months leading to the show Having Boyd out in Pau with the team The excellent back up provided by Nicola Kentzer (sports psychologist) in the run up and during the event (by phone) The great team spirit headed by Jill (chef d'Equipe) who worked tirelessly attending meetings, answering questions and briefing drivers Constant help and support from Holly and Nicola (vet and physio), who were cheerful, positive and did lots of the background tasks that enabled Jill to get on with her job. They were at the halt on marathon day and ready to help at the end of the marathon where heart beats were taken and carriages weighed before the ponies were released. They then had a full on job checking all the ponies on Saturday evening as well as Sunday morning as described above. Ian and Heather Watt came to help the Howe camp, but Ian was roped into every other maintenance task and was terrific at liaising with the French electricians. The British supporters who came out also need a mention - they were nearly as noisy as the Dutch and believe me that is loud. Their support was much appreciated. All the team members and back up crews who lived in close proximity to (at times) rather stressed individuals, the grooms and helpers all kept their cool and made it a friendly supportive camp.
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 Rosanna Walters-Symons in the cones
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  Roger Campbell with his prize for 3rd place in the cones Team vet Holly Applewhite |
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| Saturday 2 November | ||||||||||
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MARATHON
OBSTACLE DRAWINGS
Today has been a great day for Team GBR. Roger was first driver out, and did a fantastic round. He managed to have the fastest time in two of the obstacles, and come 4th overall on the marathon. Following closely behind was Rosanna, who was only 0.9 penalties slower than Roger, and came 5th on the marathon. After this good performance, Rosanna has managed to bring herself onto the podium into 3rd place. Roger is not far from the podium and a good cones performance could put both of our young drivers onto the podium. Because Roger was fastest in obstacle 5, he has won himself a 6th month old foal ! Like the singles, the pair drivers have also had a good day. Anna has come 7th on the marathon, which has also brought her up onto a podium position. She had one knock down in an obstacle, which dropped her a few places, but she still put in a great performance. Emma also put in a fantastic performance and was consistently very close to Anna's obstacle times. She managed to come 9th fastest in one of the obstacles and has hopefully pulled herself up a couple of places. Following today's trends, the pony fours also put in a very good performance. Sarah came 7th on the marathon and beat former world champion Jan de Boer. Sue Skeggs did a smooth, flowing round and has able to put in some respectable obstacle times against tough competition. A few tip-ups today by other competitors kept everyone on their toes. Roger and Frank helped catch a loose pony team and prevented any serious damage being done.' Team GBR individual positions after Dressage and Marathon (A+B): Singles: Pairs: Fours: Team GBR is in 5th place after Dressage and Marathon, only 1 penalty point behind Belgium and 10 points behind Hungary.
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 Roger Campbell negotiating one of the marathon obstacles
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| Friday 1 November | ||||||||||
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Today has been a very successful day. Rosanna is in 5th place after the dressage, on a score of 45.06. She did a great test and really got the best out of her pony. Both Rosanna's and Roger's ponies had gone the best they ever had, according to Chef d'Equipe Jill Holah, and both were very pleased with there results. Roger, who scored 52.86 is lying in 12th place and is happy with his performance, considering he has to work very hard at the dressage phase. Medea, Emma's groom turned up last night - she is the final member of Team GB to arrive. Last night, everyone was invited to go to watch and have ago at the French sport of polotbask. This was great fun although some difficulty was had understanding the rules, which were explained in French. Today some of the supporters have taken a trip out to the Pyrenees to go hiking. They have not arrived back yet, but hopefully will be here by tomorrow's marathon. Now the dressage phase has finished, construction of the two obstacles in the main arena is under way, which the drivers will be able to walk shortly. The obstacles has been built outside of the arena, so the drivers had a chance to walk them before they were moved. In the Team Competition, Britain are lying in 5th place after the dressage, only 3 penalties after Belgium and 4 penalties after Hungary. The Netherlands are well ahead in 1st place.
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 Rosanna Walters-Symons was 5th in the dressage with a score of 45.06.
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| Thursday 31 October | ||||||||||
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Last night the opening ceremony took place. This was truly amazing, with riders riding with no reins and pouring oil
on the ground to create a circle of fire. It was a great way to open the competition and the crowd really enjoyed
themselves.
After a cold night, Anna was the first competitor to go in the Pony Pairs dressage. She was very pleased with her ponies performance and scored a fantastic 46.59. The class was very strong with 22 competitors, and her great performance has put her in a great position going forward to Saturdays marathon, where Anna will be hoping to improve her position and bring herself onto the podium. This was Emma Burge's first World Championship and she also did a very good, accurate test. Her ponies were beautifully turned out and with only 5 penalties between her and 11th I'm sure Emma will be looking forward to the marathon where hopefully she can move up the ranks. The Pony Teams did not start until 2 pm, at which point the sun was well and truly shining and I can only say I was glad not to be dressing up in dressage gear. Sue came in straight after Jan de Boer has just completed his dressage, and she did a very neat test which she was pleased with. The Sand arena has held up very well and is not deep at all. Sara, like Sue, did a very accurate test with no mistakes and did well, scoring a 64.96. This has put Sara in a great position for going into the marathon and cones. Tomorrow the singles will do their dressage tests, with Roger at 9:35 GMT and Rosanna at 13:40. Hopefully with some good scores tomorrow, team GB will be in a good place in the team rankings. Dressage results: Pairs Four-in-Hand |
 A ring of fire lights up the arena during the opening ceremony
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| Wednesday 30 October | ||||||||||
 Team photo - click the picture to see a larger version |
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Nations night was the usual mixture of raw fish, saussison, chocolates, shots of all flavours, mixed with various wines and beers which were all head and no liquid; however everyone seemed to survive more or less intact and anyone with a sore head managed to disguise it by the time it got to the trot up this morning. Luckily it is a beautiful day and the nations presented themselves in alphabetical order so we were about the the middle. Our practice trot up paid off and a few well aimed flicks of the whip (by trainer Boyd Exell) to get all toes pointing in the right direction and looking lively paid off. there were no dramas and no one had to visit the holding box, so a sigh of relief was breathed by all. Before a competitor can set out as a member of Team GB, their own vet has to sign a document saying the animal(s) are sound and passports are in order. This is done to save everyone the embarrassment of getting to the event lame. It is obviously not 100 water tight, as accidents happen in training and travelling, but it helps cut down on wasted journeys. Then it was down to the serious business of exercising and training. Boyd did an individual session with each driver, the ones with energy to burn went first in the grass arena and then in the warm up sand arena, which is fairly deep. Others went direct to the sand, which is a very similar surface to the main arena. More Team GB supporters are turning up every day. Yesterday, Jane Wilson and Patty Atkinson arrived and were pressed into helping with nations night. Today we have seen the Harbach family and Nick Hammond. Tonight is the opening ceremony which starts at 18:00 (17:00 GMT) and is on foot. Along the length of the main tent is a rather wobbly stage, the youngsters were discouraged from dancing too vigorously on it last night, so I hope it holds up to 70+ competitors and their grooms tonight. Jill Holah went out on the chef d'Equipe course walk this afternoon, so we are all waiting to see what she has to report. The layout of the course is different to last year, with more obstacles around the tented area to help the stall holders, I think. There are 2 water obstacles, same as last time, a tricky bank obstacle, and a technical square one, which were all in last year. This time there are 2 obstacles outside the practice arena and 2 will be built in the main arena after the dressage is finished on Friday. These are made up of jump elements from the 3 day event which took place here last weekend. Multiples do their dressage tomorrow and the singles on Friday.
DRESSAGE START TIMES |
 Chef d'Equipe Jill Holah with pony pairs driver Emma Burge, checking out the arena.
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 Team trainer Boyd Exell with pony fours driver Sara Howe in the sand arena. |
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 Team GBR obstacle decoration - find out more. |
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| Tuesday 29 October | ||||||||||
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After heavy rain last night, the clouds have lifted slightly today. Ponies and humans have all settled in well.
Sara has put up stall guards for her ponies as the doors were too high for them to see over. Today has been spent exercising ponies, finishing off unpacking and preparing for the Nations Night, where GB are serving Pimms and Ploughman's. Roger and Rose have been out for a drive, after the 17 hour journey out here, rose is still as lively as ever and has not tired after the long drive. All the drivers were allowed a 6 minute window to drive in the main arena where team trainer Boyd Exell gave them some help and advice. The arena has changed slightly since last year, were it was a car park like surface and is now sand. There is a slight slope in the arena which our drivers will have to deal with in their dressage. The sand is proving challenging for the carriage and harness cleaners in the camp as every time people go out driving, they come back covered in sand ! Four of the obstacles are the same as last year. There are two in the main arena, which will be built after the dressage finishes on the Friday night, two near the practice arenas and another 4 close by. They are all spaced close together, which will make viewing easier on Saturday. One obstacle is being decorated by contributions from all the nations. Gary Snow, Jamie and Jo have been busy building GB’s decorations and special thanks must go to Janet and Owen Pilling for doing the printing for the decorations. Trot up tomorrow starts at 9 am and GB is about the 6th nation to go. They have had a practice run today so hopefully tomorrow everyone will pass with no problems.'' |
 Pony stables with Sara's stall guards.
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Monday 28 October |
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Today all ponies and drivers have safely arrived in Pau. Sarah was the first to arrive at 1.15pm with the rest following closely behind. Jill Holah (Chef d'Equipe), Holly (team Vet) and Nicola (equine physio) were already there, in preparation for the ponies' arrival and to make sure everything was OK before the vets checked them into the stables at 6 pm. The heavens have really opened and with the early nights, unpacking has been difficult. The forecast for the rest of the week isn't too bad, so hopefully conditions will improve as the week goes on. There has been a 3 Day event at the site this weekend, which is the reason why we were unable to arrive any earlier.' |
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| Sunday 27 October | ||||||||||
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'Today has been a rather relaxing day for the drivers. Sara arrived safely in Bordeaux late Saturday night. After
spending the morning in a field with the other ponies, some bathing was required to make them look a bit more
presentable.
Chef d'Equipe Jill Holah made a visit to the Bordeaux group today to discuss their arrival at Pau. The stables don't open until 6 pm on Monday, as currently they are being occupied by Eventing competitors. However the group plan on arriving in Pau at around 3 pm tomorrow and graze their ponies until they are allowed to enter the stables. Roger and Sue are both stabling at different sites near Bellac. Roger who is stabling at US driver - Lauries Astegiaano, base in France has enjoyed a gentle drive out today to Stretch Rose's (his pony) legs. She apparently has come bouncing out of the stable full of energy, after the drive a trip to a nearby French sheep farm was required. Being away from their farm at home, this visit was presumably needed for Roger's psychological preparation for him to be at the top of his game!! Emma Burge is spending Sunday night in Le Mans. I am unsure to whether they have experienced mechanical difficulties or if this was their planned route, but tomorrow they make the 400 mile drive direct to Pau. Here are some pictures of today's activities from the Bordeaux group. Apparently the Campbells are struggling to upload pictures due to poor internet signal.'
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Saturday 26 October |
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All the ponies have now started
their long trip to Pau.
Anna Grayston, Sara Howe and Rosanna Walters-Symons boarded the ferry slightly later than planned at half 7:30 on Friday morning. A mix up at the port had meant there was not enough space on the earlier ferry that they had wanted to board. After arriving in France, Anna and Rosanna have had a fairly straight forward trip to their overnight stops and have now arrived in Bordeaux, were they will spend Sunday resting before continuing on the last leg of their trip on Monday. Sarah, on the other hand, has had a few problems. While filling up with fuel in northern France, they had noticed the A frame on the trailer had nearly split in half. A few frantic phone calls later and they had managed to arrange for the trailer to be taken to a local garage to be fixed. They had to wait overnight for it to be fixed, which meant they had some catching up to do on Saturday if they wanted to meet up with Anna and Rosanna in Bordeaux. The other three team members - Roger Campbell; Sue Skeggs and Emma Burge left early Saturday morning. |
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Related stories: |
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World Pony
Championships 2013
