Minimus Home International Tetrathlon – 28-29/06/25

At the week-end June 28/29^th, five brave Flint and Denbigh members set off to compete at the Mini Champs held in Oxtalls Farm, Stroud.  Catrin, Zoe, Alys, Megan and Elin.  There were 12 in the Welsh contingency. The FnD members went with no great expectations as they are young in this class (except Elin who is in her last Mini year) but what a weekend they had – one they will remember for years to come. They travelled down on the Friday afternoon, set up camp, stabled horses on site and walked the course which was meant to be 80cm !!   I have to say that it was the biggest 80cm I have ever seen but there was an L for every fence. The course was beautifully set out with plenty of room. There were 4 combination fences which required careful approaches and involved angles. The water was particularly tricky. The course was described as a Mini Badminton!

Saturday morning was the shoot – all shot well but Alys and Megan who were competing for the first time with a turning target shot 940 and 920.  Absolutely brilliant.

Swimming in the afternoon produced 2 PBs from Zoe and Elin.

There was a crazy Disco Sat night with a Western theme and all the younger siblings joined in too. Food was lovely.

Sunday morning was the run and the temperature already rising. Zoe and Catrin excelled themselves running 3.27 (4^th best in the competition) and Catrin 3.47.

Then it was the XC.  The girls had walked the course 3 times – quite rightly – and had made decisions re L fences,  lines and a Plan B etc.  They were lucky enough to have had Polly Stockton walk once with them. We were all very tense as it was the biggest, most demanding course any of them had experienced.

ALL 5 girls were outstanding in the way they rode. No-one came off or got lost or jumped the wrong fence!  Catrin, Zoe and Elin tackled most of the main fences while Alys and Megan took most of the L fences (even they were big). All came home safe, smiling and very hot. It was quite an experience and they can be very proud of themselves.

All the girls were representing Wales in 3 teams.  Catrin had been selected to be in the Wales & Borders team against Ireland and England in the International Competition. Catrin was our highest scoring member.  They all came home with at least one rosette. A nice touch was giving rosettes to those riders who went clear even though they took L fences. Elin, Alys and Megan had one of these and they all had team rosettes.  The rosettes were presented by Harry Meade no less.

It was an extremely well run competition with a lovely atmosphere.  All sorts could have gone wrong for our little Welsh girls but fortunately (or unfortunately)  a lorry breakdown on the way was the only catastrophy!  It was a weekend we will remember for a very long time.

M.E.G.