Defeating the White Rose: A Statement from the Club President
The following footage contains an interview with our Team Captain, Tom, speaking to LA1 TV on 'Roses Studio Show: Saturday Afternoon Recap'. Click on the link to watch more on https://www.la1tv.co.uk/show/1!
After a successful season in BUCS with Meagan brilliantly qualifying for, and placing at, Regionals along with both teams having successful seasons in their leagues, the main competition was upon us; Roses! To say Roses is the biggest competition of the year is an understatement! Lose and you face humiliation; win and the bragging rights are ours for the year.
Training was going splendidly with everyone seeming to peak at just the right time. The final jumping session before Roses was one of the best sessions I think we’ve ever had, surely Roses would be a breeze? Well for the B’s that was the case, an extremely strong dressage phase had us leading Lancaster A’s never mind York B’s and we had basically already overturned last year’s agonising defeat by 1 penalty in York. So, for us the pressure was off going into jumping; I wish the same could have been said for the A’s. With 3 of York A’s riders winning on their dressage horses they had a 10-penalty lead over our A’s. Over turning this in jumping would be a brilliant feat and something special would be needed. Luckily, something special did happen and 4 flawless rounds from the A’s meant they overtook York A’s and sadly the B’s as well.
But we mustn’t grumble all 6 points were coming home to Lancaster!! York put up a hell of a fight and their A team was one of the best I’ve seen, so for our A’s to win was indeed a great achievement. For the B’s our lead over York B’s only increased after jumping and was a thrashing in the end! For the B team to be up competing with both A teams was a real achievement and a great end to my year as captain! Even though it was closer and more nerve wracking than expected all 6 points came back to Lancaster and Roses are most definitely red!
It’s been a great year as captain and to top it off with a win at Roses made it even more special. Over to Charlotte who can hopefully orchestrate a rare win at an away Roses next year!
Grundy out.
