A determined Eleanor Archibald wins the National 128cm Championships
Wednesday 05 August 2020
The National 128cm Championships, for children aged 12 years & under, was an extremely exciting one to follow with four of the eight riders that qualified for the jump off posting a second round clear with very fast times.
For Eleanor Archibald, aged 11 from Dumfries, it was a championship she had definitely set her sights on and which was all too evident to see with the way she approached the final round. Second to go in the eight strong jump off, she picked up a fast pace from the start on her 15 year-old grey gelding Pondhead Dexter who looked as equally determined as his rider. Cutting corners wherever possible Eleanor put in a particularly tight turn back to a double before the final line to jump clear in a time of 41.13 seconds to take an early lead and set the standard for others to follow.
It was a particularly close call between the top two places with Thomas Hogan aged 12 from Gwynedd finishing clear just 100th of a second slower on his palomino mare Little Miss Millie. Lara Bowman with her 13 year-old mare My Little Liesel finished 3rd with her clear in a time of 41.46 seconds.
About her win Eleanor said “I just thought I’d go for it and hope for the best. I knew that he [Pondhead Dexter] would be fast but I didn’t know he could turn like that! It felt amazing in the arena, it’s such a good experience. After I had jumped I was cooling off my pony so didn’t watch the others go but mum and dad did. Then when I heard it on the tannoy and saw mum and dad running towards me it just felt amazing as I haven’t won a championship before. I am so pleased with my pony he is fantastic”.
The NAF Five Star British Showjumping Championships run between 3 – 11 August at Bolesworth and further information on the show can and full results can be found by visiting https://bit.ly/3fqDsmX
Image courtesy of 1st Class Images
