The Bombers Autumn Challenge took place on the 5th and 6th of September 2020 and saw many new players play their first polocrosse tournament, after a disrupted summer.
The event was hosted at Admington Hall polo grounds, by kind permission of the Davies family, and sponsored by Bombers Equestrian Equipment and Polocrosse Extreme, who provided some great prizes for the winning teams.
Teams came from all over the country to take part. Players travelled from Northumberland, Kent, Essex and Wales to compete and amongst them were lots of new faces, with a record entry in the Minis competition, where there were 10 sections entered including 6 Novice Minis sections, many of who were playing their first tournament.
Admington was a brilliant venue for the event, with beautiful playing pitches, and also the weather was kind, with sunshine on both days. There was some great play across the two days, with both new players and more experienced ones showing what they and their horses could do, despite the lack of chances to practice and play this year. There were lots of mixed teams this year but, as always, everyone was incredibly friendly and supportive of each other and players went away having made new friends over the weekend.
There were wins for Area 8 in the Minis competition, where they managed to win both the Open and Novice grades. In the Open Minis they overcame Flint and Denbigh in a hard fought final, while in the Novice minis they just managed to beat Area 6, who were making their first appearance at a Pony Club Polocrosse tournament, by one goal in the final.
Taryn Tinker of the Essex & Suffolk Branch won best overall female player for the weekend for her performance for the Area 8 Open Minis team. Maggie Clark’s pony Galaxy, who was playing for the United Pack team in the Novice Minis, won best pony for the weekend.
Two mixed teams made up of a number of players from Warwickshire and Essex branches and centres won the Open Juniors and Novice Juniors grades. Harry Horton-Barr’s horse Millie, who was part of the winning team in the Open Juniors, won best overall horse for the weekend.
The seniors competition was combined with a UKPA grade and so saw a mixture of both Pony Club and UKPA players. Many UKPA members are former members of the Pony Club, with three quarters of the players playing in the senior grades being current or former members of the Pony Club, including all 12 players who were in the high goal competition – proving how Pony Club continues to be the breeidng ground for many of the top players in the country.
Kent Target’s teams won the High Goal and Low Goal competitions, while a mixed team of Pony Club players from the United Pack, Warwickshire Hunt and Flint and Denbigh branches won the Medium goal – an achievement made even more impressive by the fact all of them were still eligible to play in the Juniors competition! Charlie Evans from the United Pack was part of this team and he won best male player for the weekend
Well done to everyone who took part and thank you again to our hosts, sponsors and volunteers for making this event happen!