THE Lamerton boys? tetrathlon team of Michael Harris, Daniel Preece and Toby Ryan, who came third at the Pony Club National Championships last year, were determined this year to do better.
With extra back up in the shape of Dan?s young brother, 12-year-old Tom, and plenty of training, they hoped to do well in 2003 once they had qualified at the area competition.
However, 2003 has so far thrown up many problems for the Lamerton boys. Toby, an excellent runner, hurt his leg in a riding accident. Dan, who has represented Britain at tetrathlon, trapped a finger and had to have the top part sewn back on a fortnight before the area, while Michael, whose strength has always been in the riding, has taken on a new inexperienced horse.
Tom, although a very good tetrathlete, is only 12 and is at a disadvantage competing against young men up to the age of 21.
The shooting went quite well, although Dan?s score was lower than usual. But Toby made up for this with best shoot. In the swimming Dan had to have his hand taped and covered to keep it dry and achieved a superb swim of almost 13 lengths, while Michael?s extra training paid off with a better swim than usual.
The riding phase took place at Aldon near Yeovil and was a particularly stiff course, causing problems to many. Michael went first and despite a hiccup at one difficult fence, where his horse?s inexperience showed, gave a kind ride to a brave horse. Tom did exceptionally well, amassing well over 1,000 points, and Toby and Dan also rode well, so all four boys finished.
In the run all four ran the 3,000 m course well, although Toby was under team orders not to overstrain his injured leg.
In the end they qualified for the National Championships with more than 11,500 points, although Dan had to go in for more surgery on his finger the next day.