Ready Steady Tokyo Test Event
William Fox-Pitt and Georgie Spence were selected to represent Team Great Britain at the Ready Steady Tokyo test event in Japan ahead of the Olympic Games next year in 2020. Tokyo last held the Olympic games in 1964.
William rode Summer at Fernhill, a 10-year-old grey gelding owned by Catherine Witt and Georgie rode Halltown Harley, a 13 year old gelding owned by herself and Suzanne Doggett.
Team GBR’s performance Director Vikki Underwood stated before the event “An Olympic and Paralympic Games held in the height of summer in Tokyo is likely to present us with some unique challenges. The test event provides us with the only opportunity to gather first-hand information on how we can optimally prepare and deliver success at the Games next year”
“Team GBR has chosen to really invest in this opportunity in order to give us a performance edge, but we can only do so through the generosity of the horses’ owners, the riders willing to put themselves out to support the success of our team, funding from UKSport, and the expertise of the human and equine sports scientists who have worked tirelessly to ensure we are testing the right things and gathering quality information.”
The competition took place from 12th – 14th August with the dressage and show jumping phases taking place in Baji Koen at the Equestrian Park of the Japanese Racing Association. The cross-country phase took place at Sea Forest Park in Tokyo Bay.
Georgie Spence and Halltown Harley finished in 4th place on their dressage score, having jumped double clear – 30.6. Whilst William Fox-Pitt and Summer at Frenhill finished in 8th place on a score of 31.4.
Tokyo Test Event – Final Results
1 – Michael Jung – GER
2 – Ryuzo Kitajima – JPN
3 – Yoshaiaki Oiwa – JPN
4 – Georgie Spence – GBR
5 – Andrew Hoy – AUS
6 – Toshiyuji Tanaka – JPN
7 – Peter Thomsen – GER
8 – William Fox-Pitt – GBR
9 – Kenki Sato – JPN
10 – Jan Matthias – GER
11 – Kazuma Tomoto – JPN
12 – Atsushi Negishi – JPN
13 – Kenta Hiranaga – JPN
14 – Takayuki Yumira – JPN
15 – Masanori Shinohara – JPM
16 – Kazuya Otomo – JPN