Another early start on Sunday got Clive and I to the track before all our riders arrived. Fingers were crossed for a great days’ racing.
With 3 more tests, the girls had a chance to peel back their points deficit and the boys the goal to increase their winning margin.
Racing started with the final Mighty 11’s Class moto then soon after the first test of the day. Our boys wanted to stake their claim on the trophy and after a close race NZ 20 points to Aus 19, they raced on all cylinders and won the following 2 tests 25 points to 14.
The Aussie girls came out firing from the start & won all three tests on Sunday, 27 points to 12, 28 points to 11 and 27 points to 12. Our girls were out classed this time round by a very polished Aussie team.
Overall results:
Boys:
NZ 113 Australia 82
Girls:
NZ 60 Australia 135
We had 10 NZ riders in the Mighty 11’s Class with 8 making it through to the quarters (Rico, Lachie, Finn, Cooper, Zoe, Michael, Natasha & Ella), then 7 went through to the semis and Rico, Lachie, Finn & Cooper racing in the final. After securing the Test Team win, the boys were on a high but a determined bunch of Aussie boys weren’t going to let a Kiwi win the Mightys class.
Our boys finished Lachie 4th, Rico 5th, Finn 7th and Cooper 8th. Zoe and Natasha finish as top 2nd and 3rd girls in the Mighty 11 Class returning home with trophies for their efforts. All our semi finalists in the Mighty 11 Class have returned home with silverware.
The team had a great time in Australia and we were all treated exceptionally well by our host clubs and families. Clive and I were impressed and very proud of the riders behaviour throughout the 10 day trip. They are an awesome bunch of kids!
Congratulations to all NZ riders who raced at the NSW Pre-State Titles. It was great to have so many riding and the Kiwi results were impressive. Please check the results out on ezeventing.com.au.
Best of luck to all who are heading to Worlds shortly!
We look forward to the next Mighty 11 trials in September, training from there and winning both trophies at Taupo – bring it on!
Cheers
Sharon
