World Championships - Stadl Paura, Austria
5th - 8th August 2004
Following a final training session and a quick trip to Scotland for a team building session, Julie, Sarah, Aska, Shiho, and I were off to Austria. We successfully reached the port having passed the spot where the lorry had broken down a month earlier on the way to Munich.
Once on the ferry Julie tried to book stables at Baden Baden racecourse, unfortunately we couldn’t get through and had to change our plans and head for stable at Frankfurt. The Scots were stopping there so we thought we would surprise them!
The midges were very bad at Frankfurt with everyone being bitten. Sarah came off worst with 20 bites to her forehead alone. She looked like she had measles!
Having had an early morning cup of coffee with Becca, John, Pam and Jane we decided to head for Stadl Paura even though that would mean arriving before the stables opened.
We knew that Japanese people can sleep anywhere but to see Aska and Shiho sleeping in the back of a moving lorry on camp chairs was scary to say the least. We arrived at Stadl Paura late that night to the horror of the organizer. He kindly found us stables elsewhere on camp until morning when the official ones opened.
Having unloaded we parked up the lorry next to the Scots only to be told we had to both move because we were taking up too much room!
Next came the vetting, Bowler and Tiny sailed through, as did Henry. Later that day we all got dressed up for the opening ceremony. This consisted of traditional Austrian dancing and some horsy stuff.
Yet again the British team was drawn first, we seem to make a habit of that. All the girls had good draws with Joey being drawn after me. After the 1st round Joey finished 18th, I finished 19th and Sarah 29th qualifying all of us for the small final. The team also qualified for the second round after performing a good set of compulsories and a good freestyle.
The nations evening meant every country had to put on some sort of entertainment. Great Britain decided to do Scottish dancing meaning Sarah, Lucy and I had to learn how to do this. However Sarah’s knees couldn’t stand it so she ended up standing at the back in a very short skirt! All in all it was a very interesting evening with some good sketches by Austria and Germany depicting the vetting and the new rules.
The second round came with the team pulling up to 6th place, the highest position ever for the team. Joey dropped to 19th, I dropped to 22nd and Sarah stayed at 29th. A good performance by all.
I must add that Ararat Martin from Spain who also vaults on Tiny finished an incredible 4th place. Well done Ararat.
After all of that we headed home for a weeks rest before camp and the British championships.
Liz Watson
Summary of Results
| Female Individual | |||||
| 1 | Nicola Stroh | Ger | Centuro | 8.513 | |
| 2 | Rikke Laurhann | Den | Milano | 8.451 | |
| 3 | Ines Juckstock | Ger | Westpoint | 8.290 | |
| 19 | Joanne Eccles | GB | WHBentley | 7.539 | |
| 22 | Liz Watson | GB | Grateley Limelight | 7.372 | |
| 29 | Sarah Watson | GB | Grateley Limelight | 7.009 | |
| Male individual | |||||
| 1 | Kai Vorberg | Ger | Picasso | 8.793 | |
| 2 | Matthias Lang | Fra | Farceur Breceen | 8.617 | |
| 3 | Jan Bayer | Ger | Aladin | 8.537 | |
| 4 | Ararat Martin | Spain | Grateley Limelight | 8.269 | |
| Team | |||||
| 1 | Germany | Davidoff | 8.014 | ||
| 2 | Switzerland | Dyrakel Dix | 7.471 | ||
| 3 | USA | Monika Bischofberger | 7.205 | ||
| 6 | Great Britain | WHBentley | 6.949 | ||
