Riders represent South Africa at 5 Nations

THE Mounted Games Association of South Africa (MGASA) will be sending riders to the Five Nations competition, which will be held this year in New Zealand. The competition was previously known as the Southern Hemisphere Championships, between SA, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. The USA has now joined in to create the Five Nations.

The 2013 Championships was held in SA in December last year and took place at Ashburton in KZN, where SA reigned victorious!

A team travelled to the World Team Mounted Games Championships held in France recently and was placed second in the C final overall. South Africa attended their first world team championship in 2001 in Canada, after the Canadian National team came out and ran clinics all over the country as a development project. Their coach selected a team, and SA was off to their first WTC! Thereafter SA has sent teams to USA in 2003, Belgium in 2008 and England in 2009.

South Africa founded the Southern Hemisphere Champs in 2010 in an attempt to develop the sport in SA and give more riders international exposure, before competing at World Championship level. Teams were sent to New Zealand in 2011, Australia in 2012 and two teams were selected in 2013. The sport is growing steadily in SA, thanks to the dedication of a small number of dedicated instructors, parents and families. SA is putting in a bid to host the 2016 Five Nations and the 2017 World Team Championships.

The riders who travelled to France were selected based on their performance at the 2013 Southern Hemisphere Championships. The team travelling to New Zealand was selected based on performance at the interprovincial competition, which was held in July in Ashburton, KZN. The five riders range from 14 to 19 years old, and are all female. The MGASA has arranged for a coach from England to lead our riders through the competition, and the manager is from KZN.

Walkerville siblings Courtney and Donelly Mac Kenzie will be joining three KZN riders to compete for SA in New Zealand in December. It will cost in the region of R40 000 per rider to attend the Five Nations, and the Association is actively arranging fund raisers for this purpose, including holding a Mounted Games Clinic and competition on November 8 and 9 at Penbritte Equestrian Centre, in partnership with the Gauteng Mounted Games Association.

Donnelly MacKenzie is 17 years old and is currently in grade 11 at Alberton High School.

She has competed in SANESA School shows since she was in grade 3 at Aloe Ridge Primary School, for both the Sedibeng and Ekurhuleni regions.

Over the years Donnelly has attained SANESA Schools regional and provincial colours for Equitation, Show Jumping, Dressage and Working Hunter.

She has represented GHS Gauteng South region for a number of years, as well as representing the Gauteng and Limpopo region of the SAPC (South African Pony Club) attaining half colours for Show Jumping.

As Head Girl of the Walkerville branch of the SAPC, she assists with running rallies and training, and is currently working towards attaining her B-Efficiency test.

Courtney MacKenzie is 19 years old and matriculated from Alberton High last year.

She is currently Stable Yard Manager and Instructor at Immaculate Equestrian Academy Elite, an equestrian school in Walkerville.

Courtney is also Junior Instructor at the Walkerville Pony Club branch, and has attained full Pony Club colours for Equitation and Show jumping.

Like her sister, Courtney has represented her region and province at SANESA Schools shows, attaining colours for Equitation, Show Jumping and Dressage.

Courtney has evented for Gauteng South, as well as earning colours for Show Jumping and Equitation numerous times over the years.

Donnelly and Courtney have twice represented Gauteng at the MGASA (Mounted Games Association of SA) inter-provincials, with their team winning the South African championships this year.

Courtney represented South Africa at the 2013 Southern Hemisphere Championships in KZN in December, while her sister cheered her on from the sidelines. Donnelly had broken her ankle while preparing.

The MacKenzie sisters will join KZN riders Jamie Tegg and Storm White, as well as Janine Fletcher Heydorn from the WC in representing South Africa at the Five Nations Mounted Games Championships in New Zealand in December.

The South African Selector and Coach Megan Marr said: “All riders are invited to try out for these trips, and we are constantly aiming to develop new riders. Competing overseas is not something many riders or sportsmen get to do, but it is possible with mounted games!”

For more details regarding the clinic and competition, please email felicia.rowan@gmail.com. Entries close Tuesday November 4.