Great Britain tops the podium in the Junior Nations Cup at Zuidowlde’s Youth Festival
Tuesday 06 June 2023
Great Britain secured victory in the Junior Nations Cup at the Youth Festival in Zuidwolde, The Netherlands, to deservedly take their place at the top of the podium.
It was no mean feat as 14 nations came forward to fight hard for supremacy. At the halfway stage, three nations stood at level pegging on a zero score, Great Britain joined by Germany and Belgium while Sweden was just a fence away on four faults. It was tight at the top.
Britain’s pathfinder Lauren Caroline gave the best possible start with a super clear on Gait L. She was joined by Tabitha Kyle on Desterly and Noora von Bulow with Interstar B, allowing them to discard Olivia Banks’ eight faults aboard Geodina HS and finish on a zero score after round one.
Lauren and Tabitha underscored their talent in round two to provide double clears while Olivia improved to make just one mistake second time out for four faults on Geodina and Noora returned eight faults on Interstar B.
It gave the team a two-round total of four. Germany and Belgium mirrored the results while Sweden bounced back from their round one four with zero in round two, forcing a four-way tie-breaker.
The atmosphere was tense and increased rapidly as riders supplied faster and faster clears. The team built on their confidence and, dismissing any pressure, pulled a win out of the bag by all jumping clear in the jump-off.
Olivia and Tabitha were fast but Olivia was quicker by an amazing three seconds, registering the fastest time of the class so far. Not to be outdone, Noora delivered, stopping the clock even faster – by 0.98 seconds – on the equally eager Interstar B. Britain claimed the win by an impressive 2.74 seconds over Sweden with Germany in third place.
Chef d’Equipe Tony Newbery was impressed: “Every member of the team were fantastic, they all played a big part in this incredibly hard-fought win as Sweden and Germany also recorded zero scores. It was a great achievement and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Britain’s Young Rider team of Izac Ketteridge on Galerius, Jessica Hewlett with Ilmar HBC, Faye Sutton aboard Spider and Ava Vernon riding Volnay De Choc Z, missed out on a podium place in the Young Riders Nations Cup by less than a fence.
Belgium got the upper hand in a jump-off against Germany, winning with an eight-fault margin. The Netherlands finished third with a two-round total of 13 with Britain totalling 16 faults to take fourth.
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