THE Mounted Games World Team Championship final started off last Friday afternoon with the Open B and under U17 B finals. After 12 games Denmark were in the lead from Northern Ireland in the the Open B final, while Australia lead in the U17’s closely followed by New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.

Saturday morning saw the second half of the B finals get under way and after a battle with Denmark Northern Ireland emerged the eventual winners of the Open B final. In the U17 competition the two Southern Hemisphere teams fought it out to the end, with Australia eventually claiming the top spot and New Zealand the reserve.

This year’s world team championships saw the first ever running of an individual championships for the travelling reserve riders, both U17 and Open. The winners of the U17 and Open individual championships turned out be be an Irish family affair, with Graham Devitt winning the U17 championship and his cousin Mark Devitt claiming the Open title. The prizes for this event were very kindly sponsered by Godiva Security.

A FINALS

In the U17 A final Ireland played consistently and after the first half of the final they were just a few points behind England and Wales. The Irish team were unfortunate to be eliminated for a line break in the second half, which seemed to unsettle them, and the title was claimed by England with Ireland coming second and Wales in third place.

The Open team got off to a very rocky start in their final and at one stage they were 26 points behind the leaders, but their experience and determination stood to them and they pulled themselves back to be level with England and one point behind France.

The second half of the Open A final was closely fought from the start and with very little room for error any mistakes were very costly. England, France, Ireland and New Zealand fought hard and all claimed race wins but France pulled clear from the others in the end.

The reserve title was still up for grabs going in to the last race however. New Zealand won the final race, which left them third place over all and, despite an elimination, England managed to hold on for the reserve title, with Ireland finishing in fourth place.

France deservedly took the Open World Team Title. Congratulations to them and to all the teams, as well as the organising committee and volunteers who worked so hard to make this competition happen.