A RIDER from Beaworthy has been selected as part of Team GB for the Beijing Olympics. Lucy Wiegersma joins William Fox-Pitt, Sharon Hunt, Mary King and Zara Phillips in the eventing team line up announced last Friday by the British Olympic Association. Lucy will ride Mark Lean's Shaabrak. She said: 'I am overwhelmed to have been picked. It has been my lifetime ambition to ride in an Olympics. 'I am particularly thrilled as I have ridden Shaabrak for ten years – he is a real trooper and I shall now be wrapping him up in cotton-wool.' The announcement comes hard on the heels of Lucy's near victory in the famous Mitsubushi Motors Badminton three-day event — she just missed out to Nicolas Touzaint (FRA) by 1.4 penalties. Eighty-one competitors came forward to the dressage phase, with Lucy Wiegersma, riding Shaabrak, moving into third place with a score of 37.4. The cross-country course, built by Hugh Thomas proved very influential, right up to the last horse, and although jumping a fantastic cross-country round, Lucy took a couple of long routes, which resulted in 8.4 time penalties, which left her lying second overnight to the Frenchman. The final phase of the competition, which is show jumping, proved to be significant, with only a few clear rounds throughout the final round. Lucy and Shaabrak just had one fence down. It left Nicholas with one fence in hand, which he used up early on, and now it was down to whether he would hold his nerve to jump the rest of the course clear — one more fence down would hand the trophy to Lucy. However, Nicholas, riding Hildago De L'lle, managed to keep the rest of the fences up and he became the first Frenchman to win this coveted trophy. Afterwards, Lucy said: 'I was particularly thrilled with Shaabrak's performance in the dressage and show jumping phases which I have worked hard on during the winter. 'The cross-country is our strongest phase, and if I hadn't taken the split second decision to go the long route at the Colt Pond the final result may have been different, but having made a slight mistake two fences earlier I felt at the time it was the right decision. 'Shabraak is feeling extremely pleased with himself and practically dragged me across the yard when we returned home on Sunday evening.' Although Lucy did not take home the Badminton trophy, she did take home the Butler Bowl, which is awarded to the highest placed British rider. Lucy is on the World Class Development Programme, a Lottery funded programme, through UK Sport, which is designed to assist in the development of talented riders, with the best opportunities to maximise their competitive potential through an established training pathway that will see them progress onto the Olympic performance programme for 2012 and beyond. Vikki Underwood, World Class development programme manager said: 'Many congratulations to Lucy, who has shown that she is capable of producing a performance of the highest level that so nearly won her the Badminton trophy.' LEFT: Lucy on Shaabrak. TAVISTOCK'S Heather Fell won her second modern pentathlon World Cup medal of the year when she took bronze in the Czech Republic on Saturday. And British team-mates Mhairi Spence and Georgina Harland produced their best World Cup finishes of the year, coming fourth and sixth respectively in Kladno. Heather added bronze in round five of the 2008 World Cup to the gold she won at Millfield, Somerset, in round three in March. It was the third World Cup medal of her modern pentathlon career. The 25-year-old athlete went into the final discipline, the 3km run, in fifth place some 47 seconds behind the leader, Aya Medany from Egypt. She climbed a place and then overtook Spence at the 2km-mark, finishing in 10: 17.39 to take bronze. Harland, Britain's Athens 2004 Olympic gold medallist, produced a scintillating run, climbing from 15th to sixth, crossing the line in 10:09.24, the fourth fastest time of the day. There was disappointment for Katy Livingston, who finished 29th. But overall it was a terrific result for the Brits ahead of the World Championships in Hungary in two weeks time – when they will go head to head at the final qualifier for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. A delighted Heather said: 'My fencing has been improving and I set personal bests in the swim and the run today, so I'm very pleased. 'It makes me slightly more relaxed going to the World Championships. I know I'm not yet safe for the Olympics, but I think this performance means I'm a bit safer than I was.' Jan Bartu, GB performance director, said: 'If athletes are serious about going to the Olympics, they need to be up to this standard. Having three in the top six today proved that they are. It's a good sign for the British team before the World Championships. 'Heather did a really good job today and once again demonstrated the improvement she has achieved in the last couple of years.' Spence set the early pace among the Brits. She shot 180 from a possible 200 in the 10m air pistol shoot for 1096 modern pentathlon points and 13th place. Heather was just behind her in 16th having shot 179, while Harland was 29th with 170 and Livingston 33rd with 166 points. Spence fenced well, with 23 wins and only 12 defeats she netted 952 points to climb to fourth overall. Heather's 18 wins put her up to joint 14th, with Harland's 20 victories pushing her up the field to 18th. Livingston climbed to 30th. Heather was the pick of the Brits in the pool – her time of 2:09.12 was third quickest and a personal best, earning 1372 points. Harland clocked 2:16.25 (1288 points) and Livingston 2:17.77 (1268 points). In the penultimate discipline, the show jumping, Spence produced a clear round within the allowed time to pocket 1200 points, putting her into third place going into the run. Heather and Harland both had just one fence down in the equestrian arena. That put Heather into fifth spot on 4,436 points, while Harland went into the run in 15th with 4,316 points. Final positions — Gold: Aya Medany (EGY) 5,808 points; Silver: Evdokia Gretchichnikova (RUS) 5,748 points; Bronze: Heather Fell (GBR) 5,688 points; 4th: Mhairi Spence (GBR) 5,644 points; 6th: Georgina Harland (GBR) 5,600 points; 29th Katy Livingston (GBR) 5,212 points. A total of 36 men and 36 women will compete in the modern pentathlon at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Up to two athletes of each gender from each country can compete. Heather and Katy Livingston and have already achieved the Olympic qualifying standard by virtue of top-eight finishes at last year's European Championships. A further qualifying opportunity is at the World Championships in Hungary at the end of May.
