TEAMS of flat and National Hunt jockeys relished the challenge of jumping the coloured poles against the clock in the high-octane atmosphere of Olympia and the competition was fierce in the Markel Champions Challenge for the Injured Jockeys Fund.

The charity, which has raised millions of pounds to help the rehabilitation of injured jockeys, is celebrating its 50th year.

Former champion jockey John Francome, the IJF’s president, was a member of the National Hunt quartet, along with 19-time champion jockey A.P. McCoy, Sam Thomas and Sam Twiston-Davies.

The flat code was represented by Britain’s leading lady jockey Hayley Turner, champion jockey Richard Hughes, Adam Kirby and Jim Crowley, all riding borrowed horses, and Ben Maher took a break from his show jumping commitments to act as their trainer.

In the end the jumping boys prevailed by more than 20 seconds in a hugely enjoyable contest, with Francome, a former Junior European show jumping champion, and Twiston-Davies effecting a particularly neat handover of the baton.

Their trainer, New Zealand’s number one eventer Andrew Nicholson, said: “These boys have been riding novice chasers today, some of them fairly dodgy jumpers probably, so they’ve come here with a bit of confidence.”

McCoy, who could be seen backstage assiduously practising ever tighter turns under Nicholson’s guidance, took a bold line to fence three, which paid off handsomely.

“It was good fun to something different in a very good cause,” said McCoy. “My horse was quite spooky with all the noise but I can get in the zone and didn’t really notice.”