<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; background-color: white; ">New Zealand riders are expected to make quite a debut at the 10</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-color: white; ">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; background-color: white; ">
World University Equestrian Championships in Aachen, Germany, this
week.</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">Rachael Bentall, Chloe Akers and Helen Bruce will be the first
ever Kiwi representatives at the biennial German event, but trainer John Cottle
is picking they will do well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">“It’s a new competition for us, but these girls are all great team
members, good riders and will be excellent ambassadors for the country,” he
said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">The competition calls for skills in both dressage and showjumping,
and that’s in the favour of the Kiwi trio.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">“All have jumped to a high level so I am not at all concerned
about that,” says Cottle. “The dressage will be the bigger test for our riders,
but they all also competed in that before too.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">All have ridden for New Zealand before – 23-year-old Bruce
(Feilding) in both eventing and showjumping at young rider level, with both
22-year-old Akers (Opiki) and 21-year-old Bentall (Auckland/Hawke’s Bay) in
equitation and young rider showjumping.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">Bruce has just graduated from Massey University with a degree in
applied science majoring in agriculture, and is a regular competitor in both
eventing and showjumping..<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">Akers, a trainee primary school teacher who won the inaugural New
Zealand Universities Championship, is an award-winning showjumper, but has
previously competed in dressage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">Bentall, who is in her third year of medicine at Auckland
University, says making the Aachen team is the most exciting to date for her
too, despite having ridden for the nation in Australia, Korea and South Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">The championships will run from August 22 through to 26 and are
held in the same stunning grounds as the 2006 World Equestrian Games. The
competition is run in a knock-out format with tests in both disciplines getting
progressively tougher – dressage to Prix St George level and showjumping to
1.4m.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">The champs have attracted a record number of entries, with more
than 200 riders from 22-plus countries expected.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; ">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Diana
Dobson, ESNZ Media Liaison<o:p></o:p></span></p>
