Three Teams Jump-Off for Silver in the Adult Amateur Team Championship

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lexington, KY-September 12, 2014-Riders from Zone 5 rose to the top during the 2014 Children's and Adult Amateur Jumper North Regional Championship, held September 2-4, 2014, at HITS-on-the-Hudson VII in Saugerties, NY, claiming Children's team and individual gold and Adult Amateur team bronze and individual gold.

The Children's team championship saw seven teams from Zones 1, 2 and 5 go head-to-head for team gold. Zone 2 was well represented with four teams in the Children's Championship and Zone 1 fielded two teams. However, it was the one and only team from Zone 5 that proved to be victorious ending on the lowest score of 8 faults, claiming the gold medal. Zone 2 Team 1 took silver with 12 faults and Zone 2 Team 3 followed closely taking the bronze with 13 faults.

The Adult Amateur team championship saw six teams total: one team from Zone 1, four teams from Zone 2 and one team from Zone 5. Zone 2 Team 2 took the gold medal ending on a faultless score. The silver team medal was hotly contested with three teams going head-to-head in a jump-off (Zone 1, Zone 2 Team 1, Zone 5). Zone 2 Team 1 came out on top to take the silver. Zone 5 took the team bronze.

Thirteen-year-old Anika Pirkle (Carmel, IN), who also rode for the Children's Zone 5 gold medal team, continued on in the individual Children's championship claiming gold as the only rider in the championship to end on a faultless score aboard her own nine-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, Just A Dream.

Coco Fath (Fairfield, CT) earned the Children's individual silver aboard Veronieque collecting only 5 faults, and closely behind Fath was Taegan Long (Medford, NJ) earning bronze with Pocahontas picking up only 5.5 faults.

Adult Amateur Molly Struve (Wilmette, IL) had a near faultless round in the individual Adult Amateur championship aboard Orchidee Milody, winning the gold medal with only one fault. Nicole Crighton (Brewster, NY) was not far behind with only 2 faults, thus picking up the silver medal aboard Zipp. Patricia Hennessey (Kintnersville, PA) guided her mount, Little Tom, to the individual bronze ending with four faults.

The courses, designed by Danny Foster, were challenging but fair for the Children's and Adult Amateur riders.

"I thought the courses designed by Danny Foster were perfect for the competition," stated Struve.  "They started our pretty straight forward and then as the weekend went on they got bigger and more technically challenging.  There were lots of lines set on the half stride which forced you to really ride and make a decision."

The Children's & Adult Amateur Jumper Regional Championships are divided into four regions: North Region (Zones 1, 2, and 5), South Region (Zones 3 and 4), Central Region (Zones 6 and 7) and West Region (Zones 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12). Held in Nation's Cup-style format, the Championship is held for teams and individual riders. The West Regional Championship will be held September 23-28, at the Sacramento International Welcome Week in Rancho Murieta, CA and will round out the Children's and Adult Amateur Jumper Regional Championships for 2014. For more information on the Children's & Adult Amateur Jumper Regional Championship including dates, selection criteria as well as how to be a part of the 2015 Championships, click here.