New prizes for 2012
Posted 11/12/11
We have two significant new prizes this year:
Apple iPod touch
For the junior rider (under 18) who raises the most money, for the first time we are offering an Apple iPod touch: iMessage. Games. High definition video recording. Wifi. Apps. Worth raising a few pounds extra for...
Pony Club team prize
To the Pony Club branch whose members between them raise the highest amount of sponsorship money, we will give a cheque to the value of 25% of all the sponsorship money raised by all qualifying Pony Club branch members.
This could mean a significant amount of money to the winning branch, so if you’re a Pony Club member make sure you list your branch on the entry form when you enter, and if you’re a DC, make sure your members do list their branch when they enter. Members don’t need to ride together, just to state their branch on their entry form for the branch to qualify.
2012 Entries now open!
Posted 10/12/11
Entry forms and online entry are available for the 2012 Ride, from the ‘Entry form’ page, see left. The Ride is always popular, so don’t wait too long...
There will be new jumps in 2012, and also major new prizes: there will be more details here shortly, or see the FAQ page.
2012 Ride date confirmed
Posted 28/11/11
The 2012 ride will take place on Sunday 25th March. Entry forms and details of new prizes and course changes will be posted here shortly, so please check back regularly.
First prize winners raising even more!
Posted 17/4/11
2011’s senior first prizewinners, Hannah de Monti and Sarah Fuller, have decided to try and raise even more money for our chosen charities by auctioning their prize, an owner’s level car pass (which gives free entry for the driver and all passengers) to the point-to-point races at Kimble racecourse on Easter Saturday (or to one of the point-to-points at Kingston Blount in May if you are away for Easter), plus a complimentary luncheon hamper.
If you are interested in bidding for this prize and boosting the pair’s fundraising efforts, please visit www.fullsupporthealthcare.com/auction and participate in the blind auction. We hope you will take this opportunity to join in!
Prize winners, from the Secretary
Posted 17/4/11
The senior (18 and over) prizewinners are:
1st. Hannah de Monti and Sarah Fuller who raised an absolutely incredible £1,040 between them riding as the Full Support Healthcare Equestrian Team
2nd. Katie Ward, who raised £380
3rd. Rebecca Evans-Woodward, who raised £302.50
The junior (under 18) prizewinners are:
1st. Alfie Wheeler, who raised £250
2nd. Gemma Bullock, who raised £218.50
3rd. Isabella Wise, who raised £180
There is no 4th prize but Rowena Minney deserves a special mention as she only just missed out on a prize with £171.
Every single one of these figures is hugely in excess of the respective winning figures from the 2010 ride so all the people here deserve an extra special thank you. We are delighted and very proud to be able to attract such dedicated and supportive riders to our Sponsored Ride, many of whom return year after year. As Ride Secretary, it is a truly humbling experience to see how much good work can be done by so many people. It really makes all the hard work worthwhile.
Hannah and Sarah come from Wellingborough, Northants, so they travelled a long way to reach us. When told that she and Sarah had won the first prize, Hannah said, “Sarah and I had a fantastic time at the ride on Sunday. It was incredibly well organised and was a real privilege to be able to be part of such an event. Being a first-timer on the course, it did mean we walked the whole 7 miles the day before and it was well worth it!! Sarah had not done the event since she was about 14 years old so it was great to familiarise ourselves with the fences beforehand. We will definitely be doing the event next year, hoping to beat this year’s sponsorship, and perhaps even jump some of the larger fences!!”
Photos from the 2011 ride
Posted 17/4/11
Bob Girling, who lives on the RAF Halton station, walked a lot of the course during this year’s Ride, and has shared the photos he took here. Bob has very generously offered to make the original picture files available in exchange for a donation to the Ride, so if you recognise yourself in one of these pictures and would like a larger version, get in touch with Bob at gnilrig@aol.com
Until next time...
Posted 5/4/11
We had an incredible turnout of almost 450 riders on Sunday. As always, we’d like to thank all of our riders and their sponsors for their generosity - the charities we support will be hugely appreciative of your efforts on their behalf, so thank you and we hope you had lots of fun jumping our fences. The winners of prizes for the highest sponsorship will be announced here shortly.
We can never give enough thanks to the 95 people who help us entirely unpaid on the day: we have stewards, starters, finishers, checkpointers, hospitality and office staff from the Kimblewick Hunt, from the RAF Halton Saddle Club, from the RAF Benevolent Fund and just from the kindness of people’s hearts.
Station Commander Group Captain Elliot has not only given us permission to ride around RAF Halton, a working RAF station, but also given us wonderful project officers and liaison. The airfield manager has given up a day’s flying for us and trusted us to send 450 horses around a most carefully maintained airfield. And of course the RAF have loaned us many uniformed staff on the day to help with the logistics of getting so many vehicles on and off the site safely. Thank you RAF.
We have prizes donated by Bellingdon End and the British Horse Society; sponsorship by Robinsons; straw donated by Kimblewick Feeds in Chesham and flowers by Wyevale in Wendover; vets Wendover Heights provide free assessments for any problems on the day; David Komaroni of Forward Forklifters allowed us to ride through his property on Harebridge Lane... The list goes on and on - thank you all, and everyone else I’ve forgotten.
We should also thank all the professionals who complete the day: Resound radios keep us all in touch, European Medical Services look after human safety and the Blue Cross are on hand in case of equine injury. A-Plant do a superb job with the busy road crossings and the Forestry Commission grant us a licence to ride through Wendover Woods. Ultimate Images record the day for posterity and Haseley Rosettes give everyone something to take home. Alison Lorimer provided lunches for all our volunteers, and although they’d sold out by the time I got there I’m told the Kimblewick Events team provided very good burgers and chips for everyone else. Finally at the end of the day we have Bicester Sweepers so we can hand the station back to the RAF (almost) as clean as it was when we started (they collected 6 tons of horse manure this year!).
Lost property
We have a ‘Carry on Riding’ softshell jacket (found at fence 2 on Saturday) and a green flexible whip (found when we drained the water splash!): please e-mail (info@haltonride.org.uk) or phone (01494 758 408) the Secretary if either of these belong to you and you’d like to collect them.
Sunday 3rd April, 7.30am
Posted 3/4/11
The course has been inspected this morning and the Ride is going ahead.
It looks like the weather will be lovely for everyone riding the course today, so bring sunscreen...
Scroll down for directions, and we’ll see you soon!
Saturday 2nd April, 7.30pm
Posted 2/4/11
At the time of writing everything is in place and the Ride is going ahead. If that decision changes for any reason, this page will be updated (click ‘reload’ in your web browser to make sure you’re seeing the latest news), as will the message on our emergency phone number (07966 377698).
Here’s a checklist of the things you’ll need to bring if you’re riding tomorrow.
You will not be allowed to ride without all of these:
- Hard hat
- Body protector
- Medical armband
- Sponsorship money
- Horse
If you don’t have a medical armband, click here to download a temporary medical card to print and fill in. If you use this, please carry it in an outside pocket so you can show it to the starter, and to paramedics if necessary.
The start and parking for the Ride is at Halton airfield (on the road between Halton village and Weston Turville), not in the main Halton RAF camp on the Aston Clinton to Wendover Road (see the red arrow on the map below).
You can get directions from Streetmap or Google maps, click here to download a simple PDF map, or head to HP22 5NS if you have a SatNav.
From the Secretary
Posted 1/4/11
The course has been fully inspected today, and the ride is going ahead. The ground is good and the fences all prepared and checked. We’ll be on the course all day tomorrow, Saturday 2nd, and the course will be inspected again, and a further update posted tomorrow evening.
Please do come and walk the course tomorrow to see for yourself what’s changed since last year. The course is open for walking between 10am and 2pm. You can click here to download a copy of the course map, but we’ll have copies to give out to all course walkers tomorrow. Note, dogs are not allowed anywhere on the course on Saturday, and the course takes about two hours to walk, so if you intend to walk the whole way round, please try to arrive by midday.
Just Giving
Posted 1/4/11
If you’ve raised your sponsorship for one of our charities directly using Just Giving, you must bring a print out of your Just Giving page with you when you sign in on Sunday, so that we can see the total you’ve raised and ensure the profits from the Ride are distributed correctly between the charities we support. Thank you!
Finishing touches
Posted 31/3/11
We’ve been up at Halton for most of the week putting the finishing touches to the fences (filling the water splash with water, the Duck Hide with laurel, the Brush fence with fir and so on), and topping and rolling the airfield, and the course is looking great: one of our long time helpers commented today that it’s never looked this good in all the years he’s been riding or stewarding for us.
Barring any unforecast torrents the ground is going to be perfect this year: it was looking likely to be a little hard had the dry weather continued, but Wednesday’s rain was exactly what we needed.
We hope to get photos of the new fences up shortly, but please do come along on Saturday between 10 and 2 to walk the course, as there are a couple of changes of route this year as well as the new jumps.
The 2011 Ride has sold out
Posted 27/3/11
We’re sorry if you missed out this year. It looks as though we’ll have good weather on Sunday, so do come along and take notes for next year: the airfield is very spectator friendly.
The 2011 Ride is very likely to sell out over the weekend
Posted 25/3/11
We’re down to just 10 places remaining. If you hope to enter this year, don’t hesitate, jump straight to the Entry form page and enter online.
Updates
Posted 20/3/11
The Ride is very nearly full, with fewer than 50 places left, so if you’re intending to enter this year, click through to the Entry form page while there’s still time...
We’re on target with the necessary fence repairs, the new fence in Happy Valley is marked out and ready to be built, and everything that can be spruced up and cresoted has been. We’ve even given the aeroplane a polish and a clean lick of paint: the course is looking great this year.
Shiny...
...and not so much.
The 2011 Ride is filling up
Posted 27/2/11
We are now just a month away and the Ride is filling up fast. Numbers are strictly limited and we don’t take entries on the day, so don’t put off entering for too long if you are thinking of coming along.
Work on the course is well in hand, with fences being spruced up and the ground steadily being prepared by our team of dedicated helpers. A lot of hard work goes into making this Ride a success both for our riders and the causes we support, and we are really looking forward to seeing enthusiastic riders on the day, and being able to give generously to our beneficiaries.
Entries now open for the 2011 Ride
Posted 9/1/11
A little later than usual, but we’re delighted to announce that we are now taking entries for the 2011 Ride.
Click the ‘Entry Form’ link to the left to get started: there are two ways to enter. You can enter online and pay by PayPal or credit/debit card (sadly we have to charge an extra £1 for online entries to cover the fees PayPal charge us, but you won’t need to provide a stamped self-addressed envelope, so it pretty much evens out). Alternatively, you can download an entry form if you’d prefer to pay by cheque.
Note also the following changes in 2011:
Course walking on Saturday 2nd April is from 10am until 2pm (a couple of hours earlier than usual)
There will be changes to fences around the course as a result of changing RAF security requirements. As soon as we have the new course confirmed, this page (and the course maps) will be updated.