Great Britain: Endurance Young Riders To Parade With Team GBR Equestrian Olympic Champions

Endurancegb.co.uk

The Bronze medal winning Endurance GB Young Rider team of 2012 will parade alongside Olympic medal winning riders as part of Team GBR at the London International Horse Show, Olympia, on 19th December. The Young Rider team, consisting of Beth Langley, Carri Ann Dark, Kate Atkinson and Louise Rich along with chef d’equipe, Helen Boston, took the bronze medal at the FEI Young Riders European Endurance Championships 2012, held in Mont le Soie, Belgium in September.

The British team were up against strong competition, with 58 riders from 19 countries, including 9 teams, taking part over the challenging 120km course at the championships. They put in a strong performance, completing the course at over 17km per hour, to take bronze. This is a significant result for the British Young Rider team and also represents the first medal won by a British Endurance team at any level since 2000.

Andrew Theodorou and Dace Sainsbury, who was the highest placed British Individual at the Young Rider European Championships taking 12th place, made up the 6-strong Young Rider squad and will also attend the evening at Olympia.

The success of the 2012 team has highlighted the wealth of talented riders taking part in the sport and puts the Young Rider Squad in a strong position as they prepare for the Young Rider World Championships to be held in Tarbes, in the South of France in July.

Squad members, Carri Ann Dark and Beth Langley move on to seniors in 2013 and with such talented riders coming up through the levels, there is an exciting future for the British Endurance Team at international level.

The riders are delighted to be involved in the parade of medal winners at Olympia. Carri Ann says, “This is a fabulous opportunity and one I will always remember. Endurance is a fantastic sport and it is great to show other disciplines that we can win medals too”.

NOTES
The Young Riders European Endurance Championships are held bi-annually and are governed by the FEI, the governing body of international equestrian sport. www.fei.org/disciplines/endurance
Further information on the members of the Endurance team can be found at www.equestrianteamgbr.co.uk
or www.endurancegb.co.uk/html/youngridersquad.html .