Young endurance champion crowned

Maddie Pomroy is celebrating after being crowned the 2019 Endurance GB Young Rider Champion. Maddie, who’s from Suffolk, landed the title after an amazing performance in the 120km class at The King’s Forest Ride, near Thetford.

The 17-year-old has been competing in the sport for six years, and did her first endurance ride at the age of 11, covering 64km in two days!

“My grandmother got me involved as she had been competing in endurance for a long time,” says Maddie. “I was slightly thrown in at the deep end doing a two-day ride and I kept saying, ‘I’m really tired’, but my grandma wouldn’t let me give up! It was a real eye-opener and I was hooked.

“King’s Forest was my first international two-star ride, and I wasn’t sure how we would get on. I misjudged things slightly at the start as we went off quite strongly, but helped by my crew, we were soon back on track.

“Odie, who’s owned by Roz Plail, is a fantastic horse and it’s such a great opportunity to be able to ride him. I learned a lot from this ride to help us for the future and our plan is to compete at Euston Park in August. If things go well we’ll try for a place on the British Young Rider team that’s going to the European Championships in Spain next summer.”

Katie Bedwin, 21, was named Reserve National Young Rider Champion with Aberllwyd Ibn Phariz.

Rebecca Kinnarney of Endurance GB said: “This was a brilliant achievement by both Maddie and Katie, who are both talented endurance riders with a great future ahead of them.”