Our riders in South Africa take honourable second place

The team rode extremely well and we are very proud to announce that they came second.  This was a fantastic result given that the team had not ridden together at all prior to arriving in South Africa.  Ponies were supplied by South African local riders and had not had much games experience.  The riders had five one hour training sessions in which to get to know their ponies. 

Mounted Games are a series of very fast races, exciting for participants and spectators alike, performed by young people on ponies.  The competition was held at the Royal Show Grounds in Pietermaritzburg, Kwa-Zulu Natal.  The countries that competed were Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.The competition was held over three days with day one being a practice session for ponies and riders to get used to the show atmosphere.

At the end of day one there were three points separating first from fourth place so it was going to be a close competition we were in fourth place.On day two we moved up to third place but were thirteen points behind New Zealand who were leading from Medunsa (medical university South Africa).Day three the riders really came together as a team and achieved great results from their ponies winning six of the twelve races and the competition for that day.  However, on cumulative points we were six points behind New Zealand which put us in second place overall. The final results were, New Zealand first, Australia second, Medunsa third, South Africa A fourth and South Africa B fifth.

The team was hosted in South Africa by Trevor & Vicki Smith and their daughter Courtney who rode in the South Africa A team.  The family welcomed us into their home and treated us to some traditional South African cooking.
Most of our time was spent getting to know the ponies and competing but we did get time for a game drive at the Tala Valley Nature Reserve, a deep sea boat trip off the coast of Durban and a visit to USharka Marine Park.

The team would like to thank family, friends, members of the local community and the following sponsors for their support and assistance with fundraising which made it possible for them to get to South Africa:  Lake George Hotel, Bungendore Rural Services, The Feed Shed, Bywong Community Association, Paul Patti, Horseland Belconnen, Jan Spate Veterinary Surgery, Creations by Liz, Domaine Rogha Crois, Bungendore Produce, Bungendore Country Butchery, Sutton Real Estate, Total Decision Support and Queanbeyan Tourers.