EVENT REPORT
CERTIUS SHORT FORMAT CHAMPIONSHIPS
19-20 July 2025
by Julia Liles
Photos: Alan Payne
The Certius Championships have concluded for 2025. We saw a lot of fun and smiling faces, we saw sun, rain, and wind but always warmth, great camaraderie and exciting competition, plenty of thrills but no spills, all in all a successful event.
An increase in competitors again this year, 52 entered and all started and completed.
The Championships were live streamed by H&C+ and because it’s also available On-Demand we were able to watch day one on the big screen in the Pavilion on Saturday night which is always popular.
As always the Championships were preceded by The Festival of Carriage Driving, hosted by GB POD Training. The opportunity to prepare for the event is becoming increasingly popular with more than half the competition entrants coming for the week or several days.
Respect to Robert Buck and Lucy Scott who were in the arena each morning from 7am and not finishing until 6 or 7pm offering training, demos and talks - I don’t know where they find the energy.
Certius has welcomed and encouraged our Para drivers from the outset and from the second year we split the class to Novice and Open to facilitate RDA drivers too.
As it’s the Para Driving World Championships year, fund raising for the squad is in full swing and we held an auction on Saturday night with some incredible lots on offer.
We are grateful to Sarah Howe for coming along to be our auctioneer and a very fine job she did. The auction raised £3000 for the fund. A big thank you to everyone that contributed lots and to all the bids both online and in person.
Our Intro class was well supported with 5 entries from England, Wales and Scotland.
Designed to encourage anyone very new or perhaps returning to the sport they are offered a little extra support in a less adrenalin fuelled atmosphere.
Liz Whitehead had two ponies competing, Bug and Prince, finishing in 1st and 5th place. Although she won all three phases her zero score in cones firmly sealed the result from Izzy Owen (Wales) and Sue Randall (England) who just piped Vicky Barnhill into 4th but well done to Vicky and Dolly the delightful cob for making the long trip from Scotland and adding a point to Scotland’s total.
A class that is most definitely adrenalin fuelled is our Senior – this is not a class for anyone thinking of slowing down and taking it easy! Nip and tuck all the way, Dave Bull, Fiona Powell, Sally Kerr and Julie Barnes all gave us top quality competition. Dave had a really good and consistent first day, 2nd in Compulsory Figures and Cones left him overnight leader on 35.73 with Sally, Julie and Fiona all on 37 and a bit – could not have been closer!
No one held back and they FLEW! Dave relinquished his lead to the ladies after a little glitch in Obstacle 3 so consequently steadying slightly in 4, leaving Sally and Steve the victory with Fiona and Charlie just a few penalties behind, Julie and Arthur in 3rd with Dave and Holly 4th.
Another increasingly popular class is the Small Single Pony with 6 battling for the spoils. Marcel Ciantar separated his pony pair Rolo and Alfie, ponies acquired from Chris Manger last year. Marcel represents his native Malta in the Nations Cup.
Compulsory Figures showed quite a wide spread in this class, Ellen Kilchman (Eng) led the way with her diminutive rocking horse, Welsh A, Kobi on 29.38. Marcel’s close win in the cones with Rolo brought him up the rankings overnight to second, whilst Maddie Burns’ (Scot) with Caoimhe consistency put her in 3rd with Lucy Lee 4th and Laura Middlemiss in 5th, Marcel and Alfie 6th.
On day two Marcel and Alfie were a little off the pace, clearly Alfie sees himself as half of a pair rather than a solo flyer but it’s all good experience for the locker. The rest of the obstacles were close with all to play for with the order changing with each obstacle but in the end Ellen and Kobi were worthy winners, with Lucy and Didi nudging Marcel and Rolo from 2nd to 3rd, Maddie, Laura and Marcel held their positions from the previous day.
With the schools not yet broken up for the summer holidays we had just three juniors forward but the competition was no less impressive for that.
Theo Charnley driving RSPCA George is a recent convert from an impressive ridden dressage career competing this time last year at Cricklands for Britain with George under
saddle. Lacey Llewellyn driving Bess is a stalwart at Certius competing for the fourth year and the 2023 Junior Champion, Lacey has progressed no end from duel reins in year one,
she is now a real driving force.
Ilaria Taylor driving Noah is one of the ever growing driving dynasty headed up by Grandad David. Noah is David’s wheeler in his other day job but he doesn’t hang around under the guidance of Ilaria. It’s great to see the youngsters really loving the competition, they are our future.
Theo brought all his dressage experience to the table and not only won the Compulsory Figures in the Juniors class but posted the lowest score of the day, 24.88 and winning the Sugar Cube Jar Trophy for 2025 and putting himself in contention for the Piggy Bank Trophy too. This left the girls with quite a lot to do to reel him in as overnight leader but reel him in they did!
Lacey started fast winning Obstacle 1 and 2nd in Obs 2, but a slight glitch in 4 cost her 5 penalties.
Ilaria came out with after-burners full on, she couldn’t better Lacey in 1 but then driving Noah like she stole him, was fastest in 2, 3 and 4.
Theo is very new to this game and is going to be very hard to beat with his quality of dressage, he clung onto the girls coat-tails all the way, fearing he had lost the first place after Ilaria’s spectacular turns in 3 but he was let off the hook when she had a slight navigational error in 4 which cost her a couple of seconds handing the victory back to Theo.
Superb competition and all three youngsters are to be commended with their quality of driving.
Our multiples class was a mixed bag of big and small this year. We took the decision after the 2024 Championships to amalgamate some of the multiple classes to make stronger competition.
The tandems are now one class but the Smalls still drive the Novice Compulsory Figures test. This year we had two tandems, one Small in the shape of Jacqui Pillinger with her feisty duo, Sunny and Luke, feral Dartmoor hill ponies produced from babies by Jacqui and David Taylor with his new coloured ponies.
David and Jacqui shared the honours over the two days, David ahead in Compulsory Figures, Jacqui ahead in cones, the Obstacles also tit for tat but ultimately in the fourth Obstacle, which is the longest and most complex, Jacqui’s experienced tandem clinched the win.
Diana Harries has been a loyal supporter of Certius competing with her lovely Novice Horse Pair at every event, unfortunately in 2024 a bent pole meant retirement for Dolly and Beauty but no such disasters this year and Diana showed that the heavyweights can be nibble too.
They were unopposed in this country but Diana has put a point on the board for Wales and thrown down the gauntlet to other countries. Marcel reunited Alfie and Rolo for Small Pony Pairs and in a class alone he produced a good performance to add to Malta’s total.
He really needs to get in touch with the Maltese Sports Council for some sponsorship having done his country proud. Another small team, in more ways than one, is Lynda Christian with her tiny team of Shetlands proudly flying the flag for the Isle of Man, although not strictly an official Nation we don’t like to split hairs at Certius, they wanted to be the Manx team and so they were.
And as always Lynda drove her little people beautifully, they are always a joy to watch. Lynda, supported by Megan Curruthers and Helen Squires must be commended for making the long trip from home, they posted a picture on social media of docking early on Monday morning with still a way to travel – thank you to the Manx team for coming!
The biggest multiples class was the Novice Pony Pair with three drivers all from England. Kathryn Howard has a very new pony Ted to pair with her experienced George, and opted to drive HC, in the end it was George who was buzzing, clearly enjoying life and Ted knuckled down to his work, this will be a pairing for the future.
Sue Bull has put her two single ponies, Paddi and Benji together and it’s working like a dream. Lyn Buglar with her very pretty little pair, Woody and Missy made up the trio. Sue produced a very polished Compulsory Figures on 28.38 taking the early lead and continued the trend over the two days to take the win this time.
Another innovation at Certius is the Traditional Cob class, open to our feathered friends that have been a bit sidelined by the nippy types over the years. It’s always great fun to watch the cobs giving it their all.
This year we had two Trad Cobs, both piloted by overseas visitors, one travelling a bit further than the other.
Jo Hogan driving Odie made her first visit to Certius over the water from the Isle of Wight and Hilary Stubbs made the trip from Australia to be partnered with Millie. Jo started the stronger with a good Compulsory Figures win on a score of 32.88 but Hilary fought back with Cones score of just 0.5 to Jo’s 7.53 putting her in pole position to take the win after Obstacles.
The Para’s were out in force with 2 in the Novice section and 6 in the Open. Both representing England Matt Palamarczuk driving the wonderful Tommy has been working hard on his control and rhythm and it really shows, now with a new carriage Matt drives from the box seat rather than his wheelchair and Tommy is able to bend more freely.
Vicky Nurcombe came down from Leicestershire and partnered with the lovely Murphy, aka Smurf this is a new combination that is growing in confidence all of the time. Matt drove an impressive Compulsory Figures taking the lead from Vicky by just 1 penalty.
Cones saw Vicky driving the faster round but 3 balls down, Matt going steadier but clean, the utter joy we all witnesses from Matt at completing the round with no balls down left everyone around the arena dabbing at our eyes – it must have been very dusty! 3 penalties ahead in cones saw Vicky overnight leader. Both drove smoothly on Sunday but Vicky held her nerve and the lead.
The Open Para’s class saw top quality competition with the British Para Squad using Certius as training and warm up. Deb Daniel (Eng), Jeni Longley (Wal), Jayne McGarvie (Scot), Louise Blanch (Eng), Gemma Owens (Eng) and Emily Ham (Wal) completed the line up, three English, two Welsh and one Scot will unite to represent Great Britain when they travel to Germany later this year.
Just 10 penalties separated 1st to 6th after Compulsory Figures a mere 3 penalties separated 2nd to 6th with Deb and ‘H’ showing their class and creating a little breathing space ahead of the pack which no one was able to close. Emily and evergreen Alfie just got better: 6th, 2nd and 1st across the phases left her in 2nd overall.
Jeni and Pops showed consistency finishing in 3rd. Jayne was last year’s winner of the Sugar Cube Jar Trophy, now paired with Julie Camm’s Matt is improving her cones and obstacles all the time was 4th. Gemma and Trix were 5th and Louise driving family allrounder Cheetah were 6th.
Matthew Palamarczuk - Novice Para Driver class
Novice Pony is always a popular class with five drivers competing this time. Laura Cavill (Eng) made her debut at Certius in 2023 in the Intro class and is on the up and up. Driving Stormze, a very impressive traditional cob owned by Haz Bradford and lent to Laura in exchange for backstepping duties, Haz navigating on this occasion.
Laura and Storm dominated every phase and won with a convincing margin. One of Australian raiders, Patricia Nolan, partnered with Shrek had a very strong first day, 2nd to Laura in CFs and Cones started Obstacles in a good position, three of the four obstacles went really well but Obstacle 3 was her nemesis and slipped to 5th position overall. Nichola Waddicor, (Eng) Lisa Perrot (Wal) and Emma Bond (Eng) shared the honours evenly in the mid field across the three phases.
Lisa’s cones did not go so well which ultimately cost her places but in the end they fought a close battle with Nichola finishing in 2nd, Emma 3rd and Lisa 4th. Open Pony is always fast and furious on day two following the poise and elegance of day one.
Lucy Scott, Jen Bernard and Haz Bradford, all representing England are a formidable trio. Jen and Blue were last year’s winner of the Piggy Bank Trophy and no doubt would like it back for another year.
Lucy brought Denny to the party after having been lightly driven for some weeks because his stable mate was on international duties but clearly Denny was up for fun. And Haz showed that Stormze is no slouch next to his lightweight counterparts.
Jane Hendy (Wal) brought Fox a rescue pony this time and I know that Jane was over the moon with how this little chap coped with the charged atmosphere. Corby Cunnington (Aus) another of our overseas guests was partnered with Prince for the occasion. Only 7 penalties covered all five drivers after Compulsory Figures with Lucy leading on 31.00.
Haz and Jen showed their Open credentials both on zero penalties for cones. Jane was delighted with Fox to only score .65 pens and although Lucy was fourth she was only 1.29 adrift. All to play for on day two and the ladies played hard.
The spectators were treated to a display of thrilling driving by everyone but Lucy powered her way to victory in the Obstacles and overall. Haz was 2nd, Jen 3rd, Jane 4th and Corby 5th.
And last but by no means least we have the Open Horse. All batting for England, Francis Winter returned to defend her title from last year with the lovely Rocky, 22 years young and formerly a member of Pippa Bassett’s team.
Francis has partnered Rocky for 6 years now and he is one of the senior equines for whom Short Format has extended his competitive career. Navigated by Maddie Magowen for 4 years they make a formidable team. Haz Bradford was having another run with the very tall Maestro, at 17.1hh he was probably the biggest horse competing.
Ralph Bailey and Promise with old friend Bruce Hall navigating is another Certius stalwart, competing here for the fourth time. And Craig Harris came to Certius the first year with a little traditional cob called Maggie but has moved up to the lofty heights of KWPN Buddy. With Haz and Francis both on 29 for Compulsory Figures and Ralph and Craig both on 34 they were tightly bunched.
Then Ralph pulled of a blinder in cones, never seen before that I can recall he drove the perfect cones round, no balls down in a time of exactly 2:05:00 - bang on!! Well done indeed TeamBailey!
The other three all had 6 or 7 penalties so nothing to split them going into the Obstacles, Ralph was ahead of Haz who shaded Francis and Craig. Francis did the 1st just .88 ahead of Ralph but gradually pulled away from the rest to become Champion again. Ralph was nudged into 2nd with Haz 3rd and Craig 4th.
For the third year we are awarding the Piggy Bank Trophy, the logo of Certius Professional Services, each year the name of the lowest overall score for the weekend is engraved on a silver penny to go into the bank.
This year Theo Charnley, Sue Bull, Ellen Kilchmann and Deb Daniel all finished day one on a score under 30 with Lucy Scott and Haz Bradford scoring under 33 so it was anyone’s for the taking.
In the final analysis the Piggy Bank Trophy went to the driver that drove the Obstacles as smooth as silk and the speed of sound – Lucy Scott and Denny.
And how do we fare in The Nations Cup? It’s early days, August will see Denmark, Canada and Australia all running their own events but as it stands:-
England 26, Australia 12, Wales 11, Scotland and Malta 6, Isle of Man and Isle of Wight 1.
And that’s a wrap for 2025 a fun filled, exciting, friendly extravaganza – see you in 2026
Julia Liles