Special Prizes at the British Carriagedriving National Championships

by Patti Atkinson

3 Oct 2023

Since Keith and I organised the National Championships in 2019, I have been helping with the liaison from BC to other National Championship Organisers. There is a huge amount of work involved in organising an event without the additional pressure of all the prize giving sessions to manage.

There are a number of special prizes that, although awarded, many of you will not know about. Some go back a lot of years.

There are few still around that know the history of the award and the person who donated it or who’s life it commemorates.

So I am trying to address this in this piece. And if anyone knows more – please get in touch.

On Friday evening at the Championships there were 3 special awards.

• Best Dressage in the Advanced Single Horse Class – Deemster Trophy.
  • Won by Tara Wilkinson in 2023.
  • Deemster was a stunning horse driven for many years by Sarah Garnett.
  • The first time I saw him was at Lowther when he was held for a minute above the water obstacle. He looked just like a mannequin horse from a tack shop. Then he refused to splash his belly in the water and I remember the driver saying ‘Will you at least TROT’.
• Best Dressage in the Advanced Single Pony Class – Lyn Harrington Memorial Trophy
  • Won by Lucy Scott
  • Regretfully I do not know anything about this Trophy so BC would love to find out more.
• Best Dressage in the Advanced Horse Pairs Class – Bryan Belsham Trophy.
  • Won by Dick Lane.
  • Although Bryan was on the scene when I started I was a very poor novice and have no real information about this trophy either. Help.

• Best Marathon in the Tandem Classes - Michael & Diana Zatouroff Trophy.
  • Won by David Taylor (Pony Tandem)
  • The Trophy is called The Ancaster Plate.
  • It used to be awarded to the best marathon overall but this was very difficult to administer as different levels. VSE, Novice, Open all do different numbers of obstacles.
  • I know Tony and Rosie Mould have a carriage cover with the Zatouroff logo but would love some more information about them.
• Best Marathon – Overall - All classes doing the full number of obstacles (Open, Advanced, all turnouts). Chariots of Fire Trophy (in memory of Amanda Nisbet)
  • Won by Mike Hodgson (Advanced Single Horse). o Amanda Nisbet (maiden name Saville) ran the hugely success Chariots of Fire team that many will have seen at County Shows. She introduced a programme of carriage driving training for young people with disabilities. Obituary here in British Carriage Driving News
  • My personal recollection was of Amanda coming towards me not smiling. (As all who knew her will know this was most unusual). I had been judging dressage and her marks had been ‘variable’. When she got to me she burst into laughter, flung her arms round me and thanked me for giving her an 8,3,7,2,8 for some movements. I did say variable!
• Terry Bailey Memorial Trophy. Presented to the best single turnout, across all classes, in the dressage and marathon phases of the competition. o Won by Tara Wilkinson (Advanced Single Horse).
  • This is scored by 1st dressage being 1 point, 2nd being 2, 3rd being 3 etc. And the same in the marathon. Consistency of performance means this has often been won by the higher level classes but Open and Intermediate drivers have also been recipients.
  • A close run thing in 2023 as we had one competitor who was 1st in dressage and 2nd on the marathon – a score of 3 - and another who was 2nd in dressage and 1st in the marathon – also a score of 3. But as Terry was so particular about his presentation and ‘getting everything right’ in the event of a tie the result is decided by the dressage placing.
  • I had the honour of judging Terry at his last ever competition, at Ashfields in 2015, just before he died. His wife, also Terri, daughter and grandchildren come nearly every year to present this award which was funded by members of the Single Horse Team.

Sunday is the day when the overall Champions are decided and presentations happen in the main ring. There are 2 special prizes.

• Lowest Final Score in the Two Novice Classes – Ted Bewley Trophy.
• Won by Ruby Gray (Novice Pony).
• The trophy was originally awarded to the lowest overall score but this was difficult to process due to different marathon distances, number of obstacles, different judges, classes happening all day and going into cones it could be a choice between someone in an early morning class and someone not on until mis afternoon.
• Ted Bewley used to make Bacon Sandwiches on a portable grill at events when I first started. More information would be great about this friendly welcoming individual.
• Best Cones round in the Horse Pairs classes – Louisa Menaged Memorial Trophy.
• Won by Grace Smith (Open Horse Pair).
• A fabulous trophy designed and made by Rebecca Menaged (Louisa’s sister).
• Presented to commemorate a fun loving young lady who drove 2 huge horses with much laughter and joy.

Thank you for reading and please send any information to me or the BC office so we can update the files for future carriage drivers.

Patti.

patti.atkinson@britishcarriagedriving.co.uk

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