|
The following is from a press release from the Adelaide International Horse trials
Megan Jones this year celebrated celebrating her first win of the event after having placed twice before on Kirby Park Irish Hallmark, who unfortunately
 died two weeks before the event due to a spider bite.
The 29-year-old South Australian said although the past few weeks had been tumultuous, she’d had an excellent lead up to the event training with the Australian team. “I don’t think I would have been here today if I hadn’t spent the past week training with Bettina Hoy and the rest of the Australian team,” Megan said.“I had my best dressage on Friday and knew after the cross country yesterday that I was in with a chance. But to actually win it is such a thrill.”
Megan was also part of the winning Australian team who took the Trans Tasman Championship, beating the New Zealand team convincingly. It is only the second time in 20 years that Australia has won the event.
Her team mates Sonja Johnson and Rebel Morrow were also place-getters, finishing in second and third respectively. They were followed by Jessica Irvine-Brown in fourth, Stuart Tinney in fifth and Australian team member Wendy Schaffer in sixth.
Adelaide International Horse Trials Chairman David Lindh said the event had boasted record entries and was a great success. “The weather has been fantastic and has helped us attract large crowds. The standard of the riders this year has been phenomenal and the duel between Australia and New Zealand has been an added bonus,” David said.
In the CCI** division Queenslander Emma Dougall was able to hold her lead and take out the championship. In spite of a one rail penalty, she was enough ahead of rivals Tim Boland on Phantom Pursuit and Georgia Clifford on Its’ Monty who both had perfect showjumping scores.
But the celebrations were short lived for the 17-year-old, who began her Year 12 examinations the day after the trials finished. “I have to fly back to Queensland tonight so that I can sit my first exams tomorrow,” said Emma who is on the Mitsubishi Young Riders Squad.
In the CIC** young New South Wales rider Ali Foye produced a faultless performance on Bondir in the Showjumping to take the top place. She was followed by Scott Keach on Witchdoctor and Yona Lloyd on Spencer Street. The 20-year-old from Gundy said her win was a result of lots of hard work and training and some good luck over the past three days. “I’ve been training in Adelaide with Gillian Rolton for the past five weeks and have been part of the Mitsubishi Young Riders Squad which has been hard work but a great build up to this event.” “I’ve led going into the final day previously and not jumped so well. I was determined to keep my first place today.”
For more details on results and picture galleries on the event please follow the links on the buttons above. Or contact the Australian International 3 Day Event (formerly known as Adelaide International Horse Trials)
|
