Tom Sedger individual winner Tom Sedger in Daegu (KOR) 2008

The Young Rider Team that travelled to Daegu, Korea on 18-22 June came home with mixed results but enjoyed the new experiences. Team Chef d’Equipe reported that the venue “Daegu Daeduck Equestrian Centre” was an excellent and the Koreans were kind and courteous hosts.

The teams competition was held at 1.10m and the individual event at 1.20m. It was announced at the first “teams’ meeting” that only one rider from each team was to ride in the individual event. Therefore, two of our riders only got to compete in one event which was very disappointing as all three riders were expecting to be able to start in this event.

With some less than ideal mounts our team limped home in 9^th position. Tom Sedger had a total of just 4 faults in his two rounds, Tom McDermott was unfortunately eliminated in the second round, his horse was very green and took fright at the treble. Tom had done a great job to only incur 4 faults in his previous round. Olivia Hamood had 16 faults in the first round and 12 in the second.

Chris Smith commented that the horses drawn by the Australian Team were not the best available and all riders did an excellent job under the circumstances.

However, on a brighter note Tom Sedger won the individual event. Tom and Mayu Bokumoto from Japan went clear in both rounds and therefore competed in a jump off. Both riders had fence number 1 down but Tom rode faster and therefore won the class. In third place was Stephanie Anderson (NZL).

The Team enjoyed meeting riders from the other countries and all expressed gratitude for the experience.

“The hospitality shown by the Koreans was exceptional!!! They were very friendly and polite people”, said Olivia Hamood “I would just like to say having the opportunity to go away into a foreign country and competing with a number of different nations, was a great experience.”

Thanks to Chef d’Equipe Chris Smith for his help and support to the riders on this trip.

Team Results

Individual Results