31 May 2022
Rudolf Pestman wins CAI*** Greven-Bockholt
Last weekend a large part of the best international single drivers appeared at the start in Greven-Bockholt, Germany. Rudolf Pestman was the winner after the three phases. He managed to beat the German Marie Tischer and the Canadian Kelly Houtappels-Bruder.After the Greven-Bockholt organization had suspended competition activities in recent years, partly due to the corona pandemic, there was plenty of competition again this year. Course designer Michael Mayer (SUI) had designed beautiful and challenging courses at the beautiful facility of the St. Martin Greven-Bockholt equestrian and driving club.
Dressage
Early in the competition Marie Tischer was able to showcase the dressage qualities of her gelding Fortino (by Fidertanz). She did that very well, because in the end, except for Kelly Houtappels-Bruder (CAN), who managed to get close to Tischer with her experienced and acclaimed horse Flip (also by Fidertanz), nobody came close to the score of 42.72 from Tischer.
Marie Schiltz (LUX) was already well behind with her third place (51.68). She was closely followed by Rudolf Pestman (NED), who traveled to Greven with his experienced paint gelding Diesel.
Marathon
Due to the diversity of obstacles, the different surfaces and the technical challenges, the marathon in Greven always requires a lot of effort. With a view to the World Single Driving Championships later this year in Haras du Pin, France, the German federation had therefore consciously chosen to designate Greven as an observation competition. Whoever gets through the eight obstacles here well can also handle the marathon at a World Cup, was the thought.
The heavy obstacles led to the necessary shifts in the standings. Klaus Tebbe (GER) took the lead with his gelding Lapaz. He set the fastest time in no fewer than five obstacles, thus remaining just ahead of his young compatriot Anne Unzeitig (with a difference of less than 0.40 penalty points) From the Dutch perspective, Pestman had a great performance. He drove his 19- year-old Diesel around the course so well that with 101.87 penalty points he hardly conceded anything to the winner, and also did well in the intermediate classification. Kelly Houtappels-Bruder and especially Marie Tischer had to concede a number of points. The experienced Dieter Lauterbach crawled closer to the top with an as always good marathon.
For the Netherlands, Jacqueline de Groot-Apon also appeared at the start with her now 22-year-old marathon specialist Whisper. Neither horse nor driver have forgotten the trade and made an impression with a top 10 ranking.
Rudolf Pestman in Greven-Bockholt
Photo: Esther Klok
Cones
After the marathon, Houtappels-Bruder took the lead. She was just five points ahead of Pestman, who had moved up to second place in the meantime. Tebbe and Dieter Lauterbach also had the podium in sight, while Marie Tischer had dropped to seventh place due to a disappointing marathon.
Therefore, as always, the cones had to make the decision.
Course builder Michael Mayer created a cones course that didn’t seem to be overflowing with technical challenges. The course included three narrow oxers in a row and the last gates required quite a bit of steering skills. Yet here too the real specialists surfaced, because the time was very fast. None of the participants managed to cross the finish line within the time frame.
The victory in the cones again went to Marie Tischer, who only scored 1.36 in time faults, followed by former world champion Dieter Lauterbach (2.19) and Marie Schiltz (2.33). With one ball and in time, Rudolf Pestman was fourth in the cones. With that he grabbed the overall victory, narrowly ahead of Dieter Lauterbach (0.58 difference) and Houtappels-Bruder.
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