Polish Adventures Part 3: Junior European Eventing Championships

Much loved commentator/controller, Henry Symington, is well known to many of us who event. He is the 'voice of eventing' on the domestic scene, providing entertaining commentary and ensuring our safety on course. He also commentates and controls internationally, and here he regales the final part of his recent adventures to Poland for the Junior European Eventing Championships. 

Sunday saw us initially back at the ‘trot up strip’ for the second and final horse inspection; another to chance for the vet and jury to see how the horses had fared after the cross country and ‘Pass’ them fit for the show Jumping. I think I only messed up one pronunciation so was feeling rather proud of myself.

Personally, I despise showjumping commentary because it involves a fair amount of maths. Sums didn’t feature highly in my school reports. ‘O’ Level maths was a massive achievement after a long struggle during my school career. My Polish colleague fired off with his usual enthusiasm, particularly, I noted, for the Polish riders. Meanwhile, I tried to work out the final scores and resulting rider placings. 

Another of my duties was to provide microphone coverage for the ‘bell’. This consisted of pushing the microphone closer to the bell so the signal to start could be heard. However, there was one small snag. We were using a radio mic, which can't be switched off because otherwise you have a slight delay in sound transmission. So, while the mic was in position to hear the bell, we couldn't commentate, or at least, we had to be careful what we said! Another challenge!

Our British Juniors take team bronze

Having used every conceivable finger and  toe we had a result. As predicted, the German team and individuals continued their dominance, winning individual and team gold. France achieved team and individual silver, while Great Britain took team bronze with a very credible 5^th placed individually.  

The closing ceremony saw more flag waving, parading, and singing of National Anthems with me occasionally chipping in comments where I thought appropriate. And with that the 2015 Junior European Championships at Bialy Bór were brought to a conclusion. But that wasn’t the end of our adventure. O no!

We still had to catch our flight with little time to spare.We already knew the journey back to Gadńsk was going to be tight, but with the Closing Ceremony over-running and our vehicle not turning up on time, it became a whole lot tighter. Sunday evening traffic in Poland is pretty similar to that in England with people not wanting to waste fuel and naturally the traffic got heavier the closer we got to Gadńsk. By the very skin of our teeth we made it (though mentally we had been making plans to stay in the local airport hotel and fly out the next morning). 

If there was a slight downside to the trip, it was the food. The Polish diet seems to be very sausage orientated with very little fresh vegetables or fruit And, believe me, we went through our whole ‘sausage satisfaction’ joke catalogue over the week we were there. One day we did have fish - thought it was of no descernable provenance - with cabbage, which I felt was a rather strange mixture so stuck with the sausage option…and that probably leaves the way open to a whole lot more jokes. So, since my return I’ve momentarily turned vegetarian to redress the balance.   

A massive thanks go to all at Bialy Bór for hosting the event; for looking after me and making me feel so welcome. Thanks also to to Jonathan Clissold for having faith in my ability and inviting me out there and to the other officials who made the week a lot of fun. 

If you've enjoyed reading this blog and would like to hear more hilarious tales from the commentary box, Henry is available for after dinner speaking, as enjoyed by the pony club, British Eventing officials and other groups. You can contact Henry on henrysymington.45@btinternet.com  for more information.

Kathryn White is owner and director of Cathean Ltd Medical Writing and Cathean Ltd Copy Writing Services. She is a published medical & copy writer and equestrian journalist with a passion for creating high quality content for her clients. Her customers include pharmaceutical, healthcare and equestrian businesses in the UK and across the world.