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The 2012 NFU Mutual Pony Club Novice Championships
Organised for The Pony Club by Cheshire Hunt (North) Branch of the Pony Club
Location: Kelsall Hill Equestrian Centre, Organsdale Farm Organsdale, Kelsall, Tarporley, Cheshire CW6 0SR
Aug 25th and 26th
As a nation we have celebrated our golden oldies’ Olympic glory in the show jumping, our dressage diva’s dominating the world and our eventers seizing silver, and now we have the Olympians of the future coming to Cheshire. The Olympic Legacy coming to fruition.
Entries are flooding in from young riders chasing success in The 2012 NFU Mutual Pony Club Novice Championships for Dressage, Eventing and Show Jumping on August 25th-26thth 2012 at Kelsall Hill Equestrian Centre in the heart of Cheshire.
This prestigious event showcases the talents of up and coming equestrians from all over the United Kingdom.
Teams and individuals from across the Northwest will be joined by upwards of 800 competitors aged between 10 and 18, from John O Groats to Lands End, not forgetting the Irish contingent.
They are battling it out for top honours in team and individual show jumping, dressage and eventing, hoping to follow in the footsteps of our Olympic stars, Zara Phillips, Mary King, Nicola Wilson, Oliver Townend and Laura Bechtolsheimer(corr) who all began their competitive careers in The Pony Club as did the majority of our Olympic riders.
Joan Deakin, district commissioner of the Cheshire Hunt North Pony Club which organises the event on behalf of The Pony Club UK has watched the event grow in stature since its launch twelve years ago.
She heads a team of Pony club Mums and Dads and some Grannies who give up their Summer holidays to stage the event.
Admin HQ is a kitchen table, piled high with entry forms, stabling forms and chocolate biscuits. “You have to laugh;” says Joan,” and we must be mad but when the first children start to arrive at the stabling village the excitement just grows and grows, the buzz is infectious. For the children who have reached the Championships it’s their Olympics”
Nearly 300 temporary stables will spring up in the heart of Cheshire, providing a stabling village alongside three show jumping arenas, six dressage arenas and the prestigious cross country course covering acres of glorious countryside at Kelsall.
The Pony Club is an international voluntary youth organisation for young people interested in ponies and riding. Founded in England in 1929, and granted independent charitable status on 1st January 1997, there are around 350 Branches and 550 Centres in the UK alone.
The Novice Championships are very much the starting point for this future talent, and have grown year on year. Competitors, their families and friends travel from all over the country to the Championships, following qualification at Pony Club Area Competitions during the summer months. Together, with an army of 600 volunteers and additional spectators, attendance figures amount to in excess of 2000.
From the outset, NFU Mutual has remained the overall sponsor for The Pony Club Novice Championships, encouraging and supporting its continuing growth, spurring more national and local companies to come on board each year.
“NFU Mutual is proud to continue its long standing support of The Pony Club.”
said Blanche Surman, NFU Mutual’s Affinity Marketing Executive. "It's great to be
involved in developing the next generation of equestrian talent, giving
young people the opportunity to reach the top of their sport and maybe even
achieve that treasured Olympic medal."
Alongside the fiercely contested championships there’s also time for some retail therapy.
The shopping village is a showcase for local businesses and national companies with everything from dunking do-nuts to fine craft stalls.
Entrance is free for spectators and according to Joan Deakin everyone is welcome.
“Come along and witness the start of the journey for perhaps some of our future Olympians, enjoy the fierce competition, browse amongst the trade stands selling everything from saddles to award winning Cheshire fine food products. You don’t have to be horsey to enjoy the spectacle”
For more information visit www.cheshirehuntnorthpc.com
