A New Year, a new group of Belgian Student Riders, but the same reliable venue of Ruiterschool LRV. We quite like this tradition of spending Easter with our AIEC family in Leuven and are excited at the possibility of it becoming a staple in our student riding calendar. Happy to put all of our eggs in one basket on that one – no Easter pun intended!
The individual titles saw a strong battle from start to finish between Germany’s Ben Schulze and The Netherland’s Fleur de Geer. And, as the competition intensified, it was anyone’s guess who was going to come out victorious. For most, winning the individual show jumping and placing third in the individual dressage would have been good enough. But for Ben, there was still too much wiggle room at the top of the leaderboard. So, with yet another individual dressage win to her name, together with her second place finish in the individual show jumping, it was Fleur that claimed the individual combined title.
But Germany need not have been too dismayed as their team efforts brought them other podium successes: winners of team show jumping and a fourth place finish in team dressage, saw them crowned team combined champions. And in what some might call a turn-up for the books, it was the Golden Oldies who stole the show in team dressage and showed us all how to ride a beautiful and perfectly unified test. No surprises there given their wealth of experience!
Apart from the hard work and dedication of the organising committee, which did not go unnoticed, a special mention needs to go to the judges: Michel van Gerwen (BEL) and Richard Baldwin (GBR). Two of the most supportive and enthusiastic individuals who always bring our competitions to life!
As always, a huge thank you must go to the many fantastic sponsors of this competition, many of whom are returning SRNC sponsors, and their loyalty to AIEC is greatly appreciated.
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