Hallie Lunn, aged 14 from Rochford, Essex with her father Richard’s 8 year-old chestnut mare Brookwood Supersonic helped The Children’s Team (on horses) representing Great Britain at their European Championships in Wiener Neustadt, Austria win Team Silver on 13th August alongside her three team mates.
A rub of a pole saw them pick up 4 penalties which needed to be carried forward into round 2, but the combination then returned back into the arena to deliver a perfectly executed clear round within the time allowed.
India Bussey, aged 14 from Norwich, Norfolk with her mother Louise’s 13 year-old chestnut gelding Westwinds Ego were also part of the team.
India and Westwinds Ego acted as the pathfinders for the team. An unfortunate two fences down saw them pick up 8 penalties and become the drop score in the first round but India then returned back into the arena to deliver a perfectly executed clear round within the time allowed.
It was Germany that took pole position having finished with just the one time penalty. The final placings had gone to the wire with it not being until their final rider had jumped for anyone to know whether they had done enough to keep GB in the Silver Medal winning spot rather than Gold.
The Bronze medal saw both Poland and Italy go head to head in a third and final round for the final medal on offer. It was Poland who ended up taking it as theirs joining Germany and GB on the podium pushing Italy into 4th place and just outside the medal placings.
Talking afterwards Chef d’Equipe Alan Fazakerley commented “Each rider contributed brilliantly today and all of them were absolutely fantastic; I really am so proud of them. All four delivered played a major part in them winning Team Silver and they should all be very proud of themselves. Whilst all played a great role in the success of today I really feel that Oliver deserves a mention as he put in a particularly big performance at the incredibly young age of just 12 years with his double clear and he deserves praise for that. It’s been a long day and the way that each of the riders have handled the tension that comes with that when there is such a lengthy break between rounds makes me feel honoured to be representing them”.
