AS the sun sets on another summer competition season, the grand finale for members of the Pony Club calendar are the Novice and Open Championships.

The Middleton Hunt branch of the Pony Club was well represented at the national finals after riders earned their place by notching up a catalogue of good results at area competitions throughout the holiday season.

Three teams and two individuals represented the club at the Open Championships at Cholmondeley Castle in Cheshire.

The open and intermediate dressage teams earned their place at the championships after qualifying earlier in the year at Driffield Showground.

The intermediate team, comprising Sophie Lear, Bethany Shipley, Eliza Watson and Georgina Blades, performed well to finish fourth and, among the individual results, Bethany came third, Eliza fourth and Sophie tenth.

The open dressage team of Bella Watson, Roxanne Shipley, Sophie Blades and Amelia Crawford lay in equal ninth, but finished up in 11th place after the collective marks were taken into account.

Roxanne was second in her arena and took part in the ride-off to finish eighth overall. Amelia was sixth in her arena.

Sophie Lear secured individual qualification for the open showjumping and performed one of only a handful of clears in the first round, but luck was not on her side for the second round of the contest.

Eliza Watson took part in the intermediate eventing and, after an excellent dressage and powerful cross-country run, faults gained in the showjumping phase left her just out of the rosettes.

Bella Watson, Amelia Crawford, Becky Mason and Sophie Lear made up the opening eventing team which qualified after securing victory amid some stiff competition at Bishop Burton College.

Both Bella and Amelia produced clear rounds over a testing cross country track and Amelia finished among the ribbons with individual sixth place.

A week later it was back to Cheshire for the Novice Championships, which took place at Kelsall Hill. After securing qualification at Port Royal, Holme Upon Spalding Moor, Rachel Inman took her place in the individual showjumping championships and went clear in the first round. But her luck ran out in round two and she did not finish among the ribbons on this occasion.

The novice eventing team of Alice Laughton, Lois Teal and James and Sophie Richardson earned their championship place after finishing second to Bedale in the qualifying event at Helen Bell Equestrian, near Thirsk . They each managed to go clear cross country and two of the riders also produced good clear showjumping rounds to eventually finish 12th in the team results.

“We were really pleased with the overall results” said Trish Russell, of Middleton Pony Club.

“It’s a great feat to have so many members qualify for the national finals and take their place among the best in the country. To gather rosettes was the icing on the cake”