A team from the Temiskaming Pony Club won the Central Canada Zone Prince Philip Games Championship at the A level at a meet played near Port Perry, Ontario yesterday, defeating teams from the Western Ontario and Saint Lawrence-Ottawa Valley Regions, plus a second team from Central Ontario. The members of the Temiskaming Pony Club team are Bethany Brown, Shawna Chester, Mallory Durling and Jessica McVittie. Finishing in second place was a team from the Uxbridge-Scugog Pony Club, also in the Central Ontario Region. Third place went to a mixed Grand River/Caledon Pony Clubs team from the Western Ontario Region. Temiskaming and Uxbridge-Scugog now advance to the National Championships, to be played at the Ontario's Pony Club Tournament of Champions August 15, where they will compete against the Pacific and Prairie Zone Champions for the Canadian Prince Philip Games crown.

At the Masters level, for older Pony Clubbers, a mixed Temiskaming/Durham/Uxbridge-Scugog team finished second to the defending Zone and Canadian Champions, the Uxbridge-Scugog "Cowboys." The mixed team comprised Eliza Gravel and Candace McMahon of Temiskaming, Katie Murray of Durham, and Alison Birdsall of Uxbridge-Scugog. Third place went to Ashton First Field of the Saint Lawrence-Ottawa Valley Region. The first and second place teams are now eligible to play for the National Masters Championship, which will be hosted by the Alberta North Zone August 23-24 (availability of all team members to be confirmed).

At the National Championship level, all teams ride borrowed ponies, since transporting ponies across the country is impractical. Mounts are normally contributed by the host Region - Central Ontario for the A's and Alberta North for the Masters this year - but if a team from the host Region represents its Zone, its members would not be allowed to ride their own ponies in competition as this would give them an unfair advantage over the other teams. In fact, all teams generally switch ponies after a certain number of games, often several times.

The Prince Philip Cup Games are a team competition played by Pony Clubs around the world. All of the Games are variations on the relay race, and all are great fun for players and spectators alike. Many of the Games require the riders and ponies to run a slalom course around a series of poles from one end of the playing field to the other, where they hand-off something to the next rider on their team. In some races, riders have to vault off of and onto their ponies.

For more details, call Liz or Bob Inglis, Central Ontario Region of Pony Club Communications Co-Chairpersons at 416-493-1223 (office) or 416-491-4230 (home) or via E-mail at bobinglis@technalysis.on.ca or lizinglis@technalysis.on.ca.