On Wednesday week 3 York’s Equestrian 1st Team competed away at Bishop Burton College in their second BUCS league competition.
York is represented by two equestrian teams who compete in BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) competitions. Each team is made up of four riders. There is also a reserve/training team who are there to stand in for other team members when required, or to improve their riding to team standard so they can ride as part of a team either later on in the year and/or the following year.
York were one of four teams competing, with each team member riding a different horse. Horses are picked out of a hat and riders have a limited amount of time to warm up before riding a dressage test and then, in the afternoon, a show jumping round. The aim of the competition is to get the best out of an unknown horse in a limited period of time.
Scores are done on a penalty system, comparing each of the riders on that horse. The team’s scores are then combined and the team with the lowest number of penalties is declared the winner.
The team drew some tricky horses, however despite this, all of the riders rode really well, ending the day in third place as a team with club president Kate Paxton taking fifth place individually.
Durham and Bishop Burton battled it out for the top spot, with the final result being very close indeed. Despite one of their riders being eliminated in the jumping round for starting before the bell, Bishop Burton managed to claw back the points to come a close second. At the end of the day the results were Durham 1st, Bishop Burton 2nd, York 3rd and Teesside 4th.
Our next league competition will be held at Teesside in February, followed by our home competition in March where we hope to use our home advantage to knock Durham off the top spot!
Once league competitions have been completed the most successful team will progress onto the regional qualifiers with the aim of securing a place in the national finals held during the summer. There are also places at regional and national finals for successful individuals, regardless of whether the rest of their team makes it through.
For more information on UYRC, visit uyrc.wordpress.com