New t-shirts are here and will be available at the Heathfield show tomorrow, if you want to be one of the first to get hold of one. Get there sharpish though as we've only got a limited number of them.

Blue T
 

Grey T

Have a great bank holiday weekend

Last week, the University of Warwick Polo Club ventured to Bristol to compete in the La Martina National University Arena Polo Championships.  The squad, supported by Raffiny, consisted of 8 teams ranging from those who have just started playing to those who have been playing for a while - in total 93 teams took part. Featured rider, Rebecca Griffiths captained the Novice 1st Team to victory, and Rachel Cooper captained Heather Lacy and Hannah Buckenham to the runners up spot in the Novice Division 2. The beginner 1st team returned undefeated, and the other three beginner teams took the 4th, 6th and 10th spots. Two other members of the club won the Combined division, making it one of our most successful championships and upholding our reputation as one of the leading polo universities in the UK.

Rebecca Griffith

University of Warwick Polo Club

Heather, Justine, Rebecca

Heather Lacy
 
Heather started to ride at the age of 10, with her school pony club. Despite not having owned her own horse, Heather has been consistently improving her riding and whilst at school entered occassional unaffiliated show-jumping competitions on borrowed ponies. Heather decided to try polo in her first year of University and has never looked back. She captained the 2nd Beginner team for both the Winter 2008 and Summer 2008 University National Championships, leading her team to victory in the Summer. As a result, Heather was invited to play on the English University Students team at the SUPA University Nations Cup.
 
Rachel Cooper

Rachel started to ride before she could walk and progressed through pony club, competiing in all teams from games to eventing. At 14 she moved onto the showing circuit, travelling around the country to all the county shows in search of the prestigious HOYS and RIHS tickets. Nowadays, I mainly compete in mountain and moorland working hunter pony classes with my welsh section C, Starcrest Mel Aur, finishing 3rd this year at the Horse of the Year Show and won a class at the B.S.P.S summer championships. This is Rachel's 3rd year playing polo - she too started playing at university and fell in love with the sport. In her first year, she was a member of the winning Beginner team at the Winter university national championships and came 2nd in Summer.
 
Hannah Buckenham

Hannah started her equestrian career with a shetland pony when she was just 2 years old. Hannah has always been around horses and had ponies at home on the farm for hacking around. She came to university looking for a sport to quench her need for speed and started playing polo in the first year of university. The highlight of Hannah's career to date was winning the beginners division(with Rachel) at the Winter Championships 07, and taking the runners up spot in summer. To progress further, Hannah keeps her own polo pony at university. Hannah recently played on the English University Students team at the SUPA University Nations Cup.
 
Rebecca Griffiths
 
Having spent much of her early childhood on the West End stage, Rebecca decided that riding was more exciting and had her first pony at the age of 7.  Whilst on ponies, Rebecca captaned many Welsh showjumping teams to victory. She won major Grand Prixs and won the 'Best Rider' award at RIHS when she was 10. One of Rebecca's highlights was performing a Royal Salute on horseback to the Queen at Royal Windsor Horse Show. Having left the pony circuit to complete her schooling, Rebecca decided that she would have a go at polo when at university. She was soon 'hooked' and captained the Beginner team at the National Championships (Winter and Summer 2008), winning on both occasions. Rebecca was a member of the Welsh University Students team at the SUPA University Nations Cup.

New York crossed the finish line of Race 14 in first place at 0014 GMT (0114 BST) on Saturday claiming the overall title of Clipper 07-08. Duggie Gillespie and his team will claim the maximum ten points for securing their sixth first place in the ten-month series, giving them an unassailable lead over their nearest rivals, Hull & Humber. For Danny Watson and his team, hopes of an overall victory failed as the New York team stretched out a narrow lead over the rest of the fleet as they pushed towards Liverpool. Hull & Humber started Race 14 with a 3.5 point deficit to New York. New York finishes Clipper 07-08 with their final point tally in triple digits at 103.5 overall.

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