Following on from their success last year at the SRNC hosted in Hippisch Centrum Exloo, the Dutch Student Riders returned to the organising scene once again – only this time at Manege De Hullen, outside of Emmen. And while this competition may have only just wrapped up, we’re already hearing rumblings of another rendition of SRNC The Netherlands for 2024.
A dreary day of rain for the first two rounds of show jumping qualification didn’t put a dampener on anyone’s spirits when the organising committee had put together such an enjoyable weekend, packed full of entertainment: the dynamic duo that is DJ Zane and DJ Chabo lit up the dance floor day in-day out with their perfectly curated repertoire of student rider anthems, an evening of traditional Dutch games brought everyone back to basics for some good old fashioned fun, and to top it all off, a beautiful open-air red carriage shuttled our guests to and from Saturday night’s Black Tie Gala Ball.
Dressage proved a close fought battle, both for the individual and team titles. It was Germany’s Ben Schulze who topped the individual podium, with high qualifying scores throughout each round of the competition – a superb run of form after his individual third place in dressage at the SRNC in Belgium earlier this year. Sweden produced the highest first round team test score, but it was Alanna Doherty’s and Peter Dillon’s individual third and sixth placings respectively who saw Ireland overtake the Swedes to be crowned team dressage champions.
Bart Waninge’s show jumping tracks really put the riders to the test. And with the horses requiring a high degree of precision and accuracy, it proved a mental game to the top of the podium. Austria’s Alexander Wokaun beat off some stiff competition in Belgium’s Caro Brys to clinch the individual show jumping title, while it was the highly unexpected newbie team from Poland who were crowned team show jumping champions.
After an amazing run of form this year from the entire British squad, it was their newbie team of Betty Baker, Freya Gaitskell, and Amy Steward who were crowned the team combined champions, with Betty also taking home the individual combined title.
This SRNC marks the last competition before the highly anticipated World Finals, set to take place in the Centre Equestre d’Yssingeaux south of Lyon, France at the end of December. The rankings for the teams qualified for the Gold and Silver Leagues will be announced shortly, but what we can tell you already is that it is going to be a very, very close battle for the President’s Cup!
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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