29 September 2024
CAIO Baborówko: Win for Dennis Schneiders and Boyd Exell
The final day in Baborówko, Poland, was a tight battle in the horse pair class. Three German riders ended on the podium, followed by Hungarian Marcell Dani and Brit Roger Campbell, with less than five points difference in the intermediate standings.At 09.00, two already eliminated drivers, Lars Heibing (DEN) and Hubert Kozlowsky (POL), started. It took a long time before the first drivers came close to the sharp-set time of 188 seconds. Kees Koops was first close with one fallen ball and a fraction of time overrun (3.62 penalty points), which eventually put him sixth. Edwin Spek also had a good drive that took him to place 9. Kees was on top for a long time, until Aleksander Fularczyk (POL) ended within the allowed time with one fallen ball.
Concentration and focus
Very bad luck for Sandro Koalick (GER); the number 6 after dressage and marathon was on course to be the first driver to drive the double zero. After gate 19, disaster struck: he accelerated at the wrong moment and his carriage flipped. Roger Campbell (GBR) who had to drive after Sandro, had the difficult task of keeping concentration and he did just that: a fraction of time overrun earned him 0.49 penalty points. Marcell Dani did too, but needed a little more time. Lars Schwitte was the first, and as it turned out later the only one, to finish clear and within time. Anna Sandmann needed too much time, but last driver Dennis Schneider drove his way to third place (0.62). With this performance, Dennis became winner of the CAIO Baborówko 2024, ahead of his compatriot Lars Schwitte who moved up from third position to silver. The bronze was for Roger Campbell.
In the Nations Cup, despite the elimination of Sandro Koalick, Germany took the gold ahead of Hungary. Thanks to the excellent final scores of Edwin Spek (8) and Kees Koops (10), the Netherlands moved up another place, to bronze. A fantastic performance by the two men!
Ponies or horses?
Dennis Schneiders was extremely happy with the win. “It’s such a fantastic show here. I was hoping to finish high here after also winning the competition in Donaueschingen a couple weeks ago. But you have to do it and the marathon was hard work because of the high speed.” Dennis’ horses are actually ‘too big’ ponies and the good-humoured German had to correct himself for a moment: “We’re done, now the ponies …. ehhh the horses can go out to pasture!”
Dennis Schneiders
Photo: Marta Flatow
Costly mistake for Christoph Sandmann
After the break during which a band entertained the audience with excellently performed pop music by the likes of Avicii, Michael Jackson and Walk the Moon, the first Four-in-Hands started. Like the pairs, the first drives struggled for time, but the top drivers did what they had to do. Except for Christoph Sandmann.. He was on his way for a good placing, but veered into a slalom. After the B gate, Christoph threatened to drive a completely different gate. He had to stop and redirect the team, but in addition to the one ball he had dropped earlier, this resulted in five extra penalties and also time which meant he lost a podium place and finished fourth in the final standings.
No one managed to drive clear and within time, but Boyd Exell proved his class with just 0.47 penalty points. Jérôme Voutaz also made no mistakes and (0.96 for time) and finished second in the cones. Daniel Schneiders finished third. And in this order they also finished in the final ranking: Boyd with gold, Jérôme with silver and Daniel with bronze.
In the Nations Cup, Germany took the gold ahead of Poland (silver) and Austria (bronze).
Piotr Mazurek Polish champion
In addition to the international driving competition, this competition was also the national championship for Polish the Four-in-Hands. Piotr Mazurek can call himself Polish champion 2024 and as he exited after the cones he explicitly pointed to his horses: THEY did it!
Click here for the photo album
Boyd Exell
Photo: Marta Flatow
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