Home victory secured by Olympian Wilson

London 2012 silver medallist Wilson took eight of her younger horses to the event with Hero Motivator winning his Novice class.

There were also particularly strong showings from Annie Clover, who was third in her Advanced class and both One Two Many and Watermill Vision, who were third and fifth respectively at Open Intermediate Level.

There was also a notable double for Harrogate ace James Sommerville at BE100 level.

Sommerville’s Chilli Chap and Wee Max were both victorious.

n The trophy for The West Riding Challenge will stay in the West Riding of Yorkshire for another year after the West Riding Rodeos team took first place.

The event is run within the South Yorkshire Endurance Ride – an annual event organised by HorseHage-sponsored endurance rider Jeni Gilbert. The competition involves teams of three riders – one may be from the longest distance class (66km), one may be a pleasure rider and the other from the normal graded classes.

The winner is the team with the highest points based on heart rate, speed and distance.

The competition which took place just north of Doncaster was fiercely contested, with 15 teams taking part, and 90 riders in the whole ride. The victorious West Riding Rodeos consisted of Nikki Wright, Tigs Gordon and Tess Whelden.

The runners-up were Lancashire-based Hamra and The Half-Pints with The Durham Dynamos back in third.

Organiser Gilbert said: “Linking pleasure riders with graded riders enables the challenge to have wider appeal and is aimed at encouraging new riders to the sport of endurance. There is a strong team spirit and riders help each other, sharing their knowledge and experience.”