Eight Pony Club members will be on the Central Ontario Region's team at the Canadian Pony Club National Tetrathlon Championships, to be held August 3-8 based at Queen Margaret's School in Duncan, British Columbia. Pony Club members from coast to coast have competed throughout the year for the honour of representing their Region.  They are:

Junior Girls - Maddie Baker, and Karen Foell, both from the Toronto & North York Pony Club.

Senior Girls - Courtney Cotter, Brittany Emery and Kendal Lehari, again all from the Toronto & North York Pony Club.

Senior Boys - James and Zackary McCue from the Kawartha Pony Club, and Ian Hutcheson from the Centaurus Pony Club.

Tetrathlon is a very demanding competition with four parts: swimming, shooting with air pistols, cross-country running and horse jumping (both stadium jumping and cross-country jumping). Competitors range from 12 to 21 years old. Scoring varies with the phase. In swimming, points are given for the time taken to complete a fixed distance (50-200m, depending on level). In shooting, the points are given for the number of shots in the target and their position in the target, similar to darts. Running is scored by time taken to complete a cross-country course. Riding is scored like the cross-country and stadium jumping phases of eventing, with penalty points for refusals, falls, and taking longer than the optimum time to complete the course.

Tetrathlon feeds into the Modern Pentathlon, an Olympic event, which adds fencing to the elements already in tetrathlon competition.

Shooting will take place at Queen Margaret's School on Monday, August 4th. Stadium and cross-country horse jumping will take place on Tuesday, August 5th and Wednesday, August 6th at Michael Lake Cross Country Course near Ladysmith, BC. Swimming is Tuesday evening, August 5th at the Cowichan Community Centre, with the running phase on Thursday, August 7th in Mount Tzouhalem Park in Duncan.

Before, during and after the competition, the young athletes will sample the delights of the Cowichan Valley tourist region, including a stop at the town of Chemainus (known as the world's largest outdoor art gallery).

Competitors from British Columbia and Alberta will bring their own horses, not only for their own use but for loan to competitors from more distant Regions. The first day of riding competition is for the horse owners, and the second for those using borrowed horses.

For further details call Liz Inglis, Canadian Pony Club Communications Chair at 416-493-1223 (office), or 416-491-4230 (home), or via E-mail at lizinglis@technalysis.on.ca, or Robin Taylor, BC Islands Regional and Tetrathlon Chair at 240-748-1309 or ashgrove@shaw.ca, or Gay Hansen, Canadian Pony Club Tetrathlon Chair at 506-536-2532 or ghansen@mta.ca.