CHS Dry-Tri Event Report by Richard Mulcaster 27th April 2025

Well, it was a gloriously fabulous sunny day at Kelsall Hill Equestrian centre for the first CHS Dry-Triathlon competition. All three phases were for the first time (in the modern era at least), held at Kelsall; we were fortunate enough to be offered a dedicated building for the shoot phase, our Beanies took advantage of the glorious weather for an outdoor Beanie throw, and with the use of the all weather surface for the ride phase, come rain, hail or shine, the event was going to run.

The objective of this spring event was very much to encourage members to compete in Tetrathlon over the coming summer by offering a branch friendly event with a bit of competition between friends. But most of all it was an opportunity for Tet friends to meet up again after the break and spend a Sunday together. There was also the chance for Beanies and Tadpoles to compete with their ponies in a Tetrathlon-based event at the relevant height to their age group; and with the opportunity of the newer Minimus Novice & Junior Novice classes for members newer to the sport with lower ride heights, all bases were covered!

The day started with the Beanies riding the 40cm course and it really was wonderful to see so much enthusiasm for Tetrathlon amongst the very youngest in the Pony club, though perhaps we’ve learned a valuable lesson from our lead rein parents, that they would be happy with a slightly shorter course!

The shoot range was administered perfectly in the new building and with new target equipment; it was the Junior Novice competitors who were the first to shoot on the new turners! Huge well done to Range Officers Chris & Mark, and with Jim keeping a watchful eye over things from the comfort of the Safety desk!

The Run was an out & back route along a track which I had thought would have appealed to our runners, but there were comparisons made to it looking a bit like the never-ending image of Route 66! Our crack team of timing commandos and Will K’s wrangling skills of herding children, the run was another successful phase completed. Leading out the run phase, in the first heat was our senior competitors and it was amazing to see so many seniors turning out to compete so early in the year. Well done to East Cheshire’s Freddie – it must have been really tough only having a minutes’ head start before all the senior girls came chasing after him! But an even bigger well done for holding them off during the race! Well done to Sophie, Orla, Annabel, Lana, Daisy, Polly, Beatrice & Abby for giving it everything on the first run of the season.

In the Juniors Boys, Harvey, Archie, George & Thomas all did battle on the 1500m route, followed by the Junior girls, with a great race between Talia, travelling all the way from Area 18 and East Cheshire’s Zara, but it was a win this time for Talia from Gogerddan PC and a 2nd place for Myrtle from Lancaster PC, very well done to all juniors competing. The Junior Novice was a fantastic opportunity for Juniors to compete over 80cm and there was a strong number of entries; wonderful to see a Junior Girls Team from Darlington Stables PC Centre, and a special well done to CHS’s Isobel entering her first year in Tet, and Lily-May stepping up into Juniors for the first time; but very well done to Genevieve with a fantastic 1st place.

Albert in the Mini Boys was placed 1st, and the Mini Girls was an especially strong class with some amazing scores; amazing shooting of 960 secured CHS’s Pippa the best shoot, whilst Beatrix from Barlow Hunt (Area 6) took the best run in an impressive time and 1st place, and special note to Amber DC with an amazing improvement and PB run to be proud of. Again, in the Mini- Novice, a chance to compete at Minimus level over 60cm jumps; amazing to see our Mini-novices coming out and enjoying themselves; well done to Poppy (5th), Bethany (4th), Amber K (3rd), Annabel (2nd), and Harrison from WLC in Area 4 (1st).

Our Boys & Girls Tadpoles and the Beanies classes were especially popular; well done to Barney (CHFS) & Finley in the Boys, and to Hettie (Tanatside), Harri (Wynnstay), Millie (Waen-y-Llyn), and Alys (FnD) in the Girls – great to see entries coming in again from Waen-y-Llyn PC; but very well done to Megan from FnD for taking the 1st place spot.

The Beanies & Pre-Beanies were too many to name with 13 in each class! But well done for taking 1st place in the Beanies to Martha from EC, and to Alfie from Darlington Stables also 1st in the Pre-Beanies!

Once completed over the 3-phases, some of the older members took up the opportunity of a discounted entry to school around the BE XC route from the big event last week; our event timings were compressed to encourage this opportunity.

Our Team competition is split into Little teams and Big Teams and we do this to help ensure more team placings for all competitors, but also so it’s fairer on the competitors to be competing with people roughly their own age. In the little team competition the results were:

1st East Cheshire (Albert, Martha, Bethany, Libby)

2nd Cheshire Hunt South Minks (Annabel, Eliza, Amber DC, Pippa)

3rd Cumberland Farmers South (Barney, Paddy, Olivia)

4th Flint & Denbigh 1 (Nansi, Megan, Alys, Tomos)

5th Cheshire Hunt South Minis (Finley, Poppy, Amber K)

6th Waen-y-Llyn (Aria, Georgina, Millie)

Very well done to East Cheshire!

In our Big Teams Competition, the results were:

1st Cheshire Hunt South Blues (Harvey, Daisy, Lana, Sophie)

2nd East Cheshire (Zara, Emily, Thomas, Annabel)

3rd Cheshire Hunt South Divas (Isobel Thompson, Genevieve, Lily-May, Emilia)

4th Darlington Stables (Ffion, Layla, Rhea, Eva)

5th Cheshire Hunt South Whites (Polly, Abby, Beatrice)

Well done to all the Branches (& Centres) on fielding Junior & Senior Teams, it’s a fantastic achievement.

Special thanks go to everyone who has helped; our CHS Team of AMAZING parents and helpers – the event just wouldn’t happen without you; our arena party who ensured we had an amazing course and was judged & with encouraging commentary all day, and to the Team at Kelsall Hill who ensured everything was set up just perfectly for our arrival!

We return to in July for a full Tetrathlon on 12th & 13th, and this time we will run Minimus, Junior & Open classes over “The Old BE Course”; which will be an amazing challenge, but we will also be offering arena courses for our Tadpoles and Beanies to ensure every Tetrathlete can compete, plus there will be Brilliant Tet Party on the evening of the 12th. We look forward to welcoming you back in July.