6 July 2022
German Single Driving Championship: Gold for Anne Unzeitig, Niels Grundmann and Alexandra Röder
At the German Singles Championships, the young driver Anne Unzeitig won the national title for the first time with her gelding De Niro. The young 20-year-old Unzeitig managed to stay ahead of her competition with a 0.01 penalty point. The national champions of the single ponies and the para drivers were also announced last weekend in Ottenheim-Schwanau.“It was super close together and that made it really exciting,” reports Eckardt Meyer, the former national coach for single driving horses, who is in charge again this year. After the dressage and marathon, Dieter Lauterbach took the lead with his chestnut gelding Conductor. As leader of the combined standings, he started last in the cones. Before that, Anne Unzeitig and her Hanoverian De Niro drove a clear round, which brought her to 124.50 penalty points. That meant that Dieter Lauterbach also had to stay clear, but unfortunately one ball fell for him. As a result, he came to a total of 124.51 points, good enough for the silver medal. Dieter Lauterbach, national trainer of the German youth drivers and World Champion single driver in 2016, already became German champion seven times and has now added a silver medal.
Anne Unzeitig took seventh place in dressage with De Niro and performed strongly in the marathon (second place). Her gelding Charmeur, with whom she became European U21 champion last year, also went well this weekend. They won the dressage. “This horse always does great in dressage, but isn’t very strong in marathon and cones,” said Meyer. With Charmeur, Unzeitig finished sixth.
The bronze medal went to Marie Tischer with Fortino. The former German champion and World Champion Young Driving Horses Fortino always shows strong performances in dressage and did so last weekend. In the marathon they finished ninth and in the cones one ball fell, which was the second best result in the cones. Tischer finished with 125.51 penalties, which was just over one point too many for gold, but good enough for the bronze medal.
Anne Unzeitig (gold), Dieter Lauterbach (silver), Marie Tischer (bronse)
Photo: Peter Kees
Single pony
Not only the German Championship for single driving horses was held, but also that of the single driving ponies. Title holder Niels Grundmann can once again call himself German champion with his experienced Tadeus. After silver in 2020 and gold in 2021, he now won the gold medal again. He won the marathon, incurring three penalty points in the cones and thus managed to score the least number of penalty points. The silver went to Tobias Bücker, former world champion ponies four-in-hand. Last year’s vice champion won bronze: Anna Genkinger with Bella Donna.
Niels Grundmann (gold), Tobias Bücker (silver), Anna Genkinger (bronse)
Photo: Peter Kees
Para Driving
Together with the single driving horses and single driving ponies, the para drivers also competed for the national title. The gold went to Alexandra Röder with the KWPN mare Equiestar Lucie, who won silver last year. Patricia Großerichter won the silver with the nine-year-old German riding pony Gentle Man and the bronze went to Ivonne Hellenbrand with her Haflinger Anderson. Alexandra Röder sent her horse Florentino S to third place in the combined standings, but because one competitor cannot win two medals, the bronze went to fourth-placed Ivonne Hellenbrand and Anderson.
It was the first time that the driving association in Ottenheim organised a championship. “It was a really great event. The association has put a lot of energy into it,” Eckardt Meyer said enthusiastically.
Alexandra Röder (gold), Patricia Großerichter (silver), Yvonne Hellenbrand (bronse)
Photo: Peter Kees
