Cotswold endurance rider takes 2nd and Best Condition at FEI 3 star event
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Gloucestershire’s Janice Cockley-Adams took 2nd place in an exciting finish at the end of 120km (80 miles) of highly competitive riding against top class professional opponents from Bahrain – one of the world’s leading endurance riding nations.
Riding in Sherwood Forest last weekend (24th May) Cockley-Adams was taking part in the UK’s first major FEI 3 star fixture of the 2008 endurance season.
After 6 hours of riding Cockley-Adams was just 2 minutes behind winner Ahmed Abdulla Al Hazza, as she pulled away from third placed Manal Majeed Fakhrawi to finish with an average speed of 19.8 km per hour. This impressive performance builds on her successes last year with her horse Khadidja du Pont. Placed 7th in the FEI world rankings for 2007 the duo were the top British based combination last year.
“I’m very pleased with this result. We went head to head with truly world class competition and came close to victory.” Said Cockley-Adams. “Khadidja won the Best Condition award too, which proves that we rode within her capabilities which was exactly what we wanted to see at this stage in our programme.”
The event was sponsored by the Bahrain Royal Endurance stables who fielded six riders in the event. Bahrain took the team silver medal at last year’s Open European Championship and will be hunting for medals at this year’s World Championships.
Great Britain will not be sending a team to the World Championships in Malaysia because of the cost and climatic conditions, so Janice’s next key goal is the 2009 European Championships in Italy.
Endurance is the fastest growing of all the equestrian sports and around the world it is becoming increasingly professional, attracting the kind of backers that in the UK are associated with the established equestrian sports. Janice Cockley-Adams has a full time career that she balances with jointly runs her own small private yard with her husband. For an amateur rider and horse combination without a sponsor to consistently compete at this level is a remarkable achievement.
