Silver Success for Roger

 5 Jan 2022by British Carriagedriving

Half way through the season, in July, Roger was given the opportunity to drive ponies owned by Christof Weihe, with the hope of making it to the Worlds. Hard work paid off and Roger had an individual place to drive at the World Championships for Great Britain.

Recapping the competition...

Dressage left him in 11th place with everything still to play for, 6 penalty points off the lead.

In a masterclass of Marathon driving Roger won the second day of competition, a win that moved him up to 2nd overall.

Things were very close as it was 4 points to Gold but also 4 points to 5th, a day that could have gone either way. Calm and collected as usual Roger did his thing, even after knocking cone 2 and piling the pressure on himself, he knew he had to be clear on time to secure the medal.

That is exactly what he did, finishing 1 point ahead of Louise Fillon who took Bronze and 1 point behind Rodinde Rutjens who took Gold for the second consecutive year, Roger Campbell had secured himself that Silver Medal.

Over the years the Brits have triumphed in the Pony Pair class with both Anna Grayston and Tara Wilkinson achieving Gold's, Roger put Great Britain back on the podium in 2021.

At just 32 Roger has got a lot of experience under his belt after initially falling into the sport of Carriage driving - quite literally - when he got fed up because his granny kept tipping him out of her carriage, so he persuaded her to let him take the reins.

Driving trials became a hobby for the Campbell family with Roger and his brother Frank both still mad about motocross. As the Campbell's got more involved Roger, Frank and their sister Clare joined the British Young Drivers where it was evident they had caught the 'driving bug'.

Since then the only way has been up for Roger who pushed himself through all the classes and all the levels. Achieving British National Champion status in all single levels before moving on to multiples.

2019 was a memorable year with a prestigious win at Royal Windsor Horse Show and awarded the FEI Top Driver of the Year award driving a pony team of Welsh section As.

After a quiet year out due to the Corona Virus it is fantastic that British Carriagedriving got to see Roger back out in 2021 and to see his hard work pay off with a podium finish.

We hope this is only the start of Roger's international career as he moves onto horses with hopes of bringing out a Horse Pair next season.

Photos by Amy Mundell