Ireland’s Bertram Allen Takes Silver Medal in European Junior Championship
IN HIS last month as a Junior Rider, Wexford’s Bertram Allen took the Individual Silver Medal at the Junior European Show Jumping Championships in Vejer de la Frontera, Spain, aboard Ballywalter Farms’s grey mare Molly Malone.
European Junior Team Gold winner in 2012, the 17 year-old lost out in a three-way jump off today to Italy’s Emanuele Massimiliano Bianchi and Cupido Z by less than a second.
With three riders on a total of four faults after three rounds of jumping in the individual championships this weekend, Allen, who turns 18 in August, was pitted against the Italian combination and Lisa Nooren from the Netherlands aboard the bay gelding Zigo.
Allen, second to jump, easily beat Nooren’s time on a clear round, but Italy’s Bianchi then also went clear, stopping the clock fractions of a second faster than the Irish effort to clinch the gold medal, with the Netherlands taking bronze.
The Wexford rider has had a glittering career, from multiple European Pony and Junior gold medals through recent senior international Grand Prix wins, to emerge as one of Irish show jumping’s brightest hopes for the future.
In the European Junior Team event in Spain this weekend, under Chef d’Equipe Comdt John Ledingham, Allen also delivered a clear round and a four fault round. With a total of 20 teams competing, the Irish quartet , which included Tom Foley, Jeremy Sweetnam and Michael Duffy, finished a creditable seventh against stiff opposition.
Bertram Allen said after his placing at the championships yesterday: “I am absolutely delighted to win a Silver Medal at the European Championships. It has been a long tough competition over four days in a fantastic facility with temperatures in the 30′s. it was special for Molly Malone as we purchased her here at the Sunshine Tour as a five year old. I would like to thank my team members, Jeremy Sweetnam, Michael Duffy, Tom Foley, Chef d’Equipe Comdt John Ledingham and the huge Irish contingent at the championships for their tremendous support.”
Note from Horse Sport Ireland
Category: International, News, Show Jumping
