KGV Equestrian Report – Final April 2018
Over the past weekend two KGV Equestrian teams competed in the HKEF Inter-school Equestrian Challenge Final at Lo Wu Saddle Club. Both teams qualified for these finals at two venues, TMPRS & LWSC in heats during the year. For two KGV teams to make the finals from over 40 schools competing was already an amazing accomplishment but their achievements in the final exceeded everyone’s expectations. The Lower Division team comprised of Mia Koerber, Charmaine Ip, Harmony Pao and Belen Fung were narrowly beaten by RCHK to finish in 2nd place with Nord Anglier International School 3rd and HKIS 4th. The Higher Division team comprised of Annabel Dyson, Rachel Mason, Zoe Koerber and Julie Bardin went one better being crowned champions on the day with RCHK 2nd, Discovery College 3rd and GSIS 4th. This is the 3rd time in succession that the Higher Division team for KGV have won this prestigious competition and now sees them jet off for an all expenses trip to the famous Ingestre Stables in Staffordshire, UK in late June 2018 to train with the renowned international judges Tim Downes FBHS and Andrew Bennie- a former Olympian.
Friday afternoon’s session saw the Lower Division complete their dressage tests. After some great riding from Harmony (5th) and Charmaine Ip (6th) both worthy of particular mention, this put KGV in 2nd place going into Saturday’s show jumping competition.
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In the Lower Division showjumping KGV did their best but unfortunately couldn’t catch RCHK. Belen was the star coming third, with Harmony, Charmaine and Mia not far behind. This resulted in KGV finishing in 2nd place which was a phenomenal effort for this young and inexperienced team. To top it off the girls from KGV were awarded best presented team of the day, thanks to the great coaching and instruction from Mrs Grady.
On Saturday the Higher Division team started early in the morning with their dressage competition. Our youngest rider Julie Bardin in Year 9 rode brilliantly to win the dressage by scoring 75.52%. This is the highest dressage score ever in the 12 years this event has been running. Annabel was 2nd with Zoe in 4th place. KGV continued their dominance in the show jumping with Zoe 1st, Julie 2nd and Annabel 3rd. Rachel Mason drew two more challenging horses but rode each one better than the riders from the other schools. No other school really had a chance! A superb performance from our KGV HD team.
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There were many prizes given out on the day and again the KGV riders won more than their share and no one went home empty handed. The future for KGV Equestrian looks bright with us having many strong riders in both divisions. No school has won the competition 3 times in a row and we will be going for 4 next year!
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On behalf of Mrs Grady and all KGV riders there are plenty of people we would like to thank. The KGV SLT and staff members for their continued support of our team – no other school has our high level of in-school support. Special mention to Ms Ip and Mr Corrigall for always helping the team in any way they can. As usual, we continue to have an amazing group of parents that support our teams in so many ways. Mr and Mrs Dyson, Mr and Mrs Koerber, Mrs Bardin, Ms Morgan, Mrs Ip (Chan) and Mr and Mrs Pao who have spent many hours over the weekend supporting their daughters. And finally to Gemma and Mrs Duncan, Saheli Moorjani and former KGV parent Martine McCabe (Alice Knoeff’s mum) for their support and the delicious BBQ throughout the day.
Overall a remarkable performance from the KGV Equestrian Family.
David and Lee Grady
