Wilkinson Sword Hunter Trial

25th September 2011

On a beautiful crisp late September day the annual Wilkinson Sword Event, founded in 1981, was held at the Soham & District Pony Club.

The event originated when one of the committee members at Soham saw an advert from Wilkinson Sword, who were giving away six swords.  To get one of these treasured swords we had to say why we should get one and what we would use it for.  The Soham & District Pony Club were one of the lucky six to be awarded one.  It is believed that one of the others went to a polo club, but where the others are today is a mystery.

The winning team comes from two scores in the intermediate and two scores from the open, with the best scores counting.

In tandem with the Wilkinson Sword is the Gerry Webster event, which has the same principles but concentrates on the junior classes and takes the best four scores from either novice classes.  This cup was donated by the family of the late Gerry Webster who trained the Prince Phillip Cup Team at Soham for many years.

Both events take the scores from Pony Club Members.

The event took almost 200 entries and all three courses ran very well in near perfect conditions.  The ditch, following by the skinny, in the higher classes provided a challenge for some riders, as did the log in the water.  With only a couple of hold ups on course, a good flow of riders tackled everything it had to offer.

The Wilkinson Sword was won by the Suffolk Hunt Pony Club.

The Gerry Webster Cup was awarded to the home team of Soham & District Pony Club - a team comprised of some promising riders, namely Phoebe Plumb, India Gibson, Ewan Kingdon and Amy Drummond.  A well deserved victory from a team with some new partnerships.  

Sue Cameron
Soham & District Pony Club

The winners are as listed below . . . .

Click here to download the full results