By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

After ending the first day of competition in sixth place, Team Bahamas’ four-member equestrian team rallied to secure another bronze medal at the World Clubs Tournament in Lamotte-Beuvron, France, yesterday.

Team Bahamas, with Heidi Mello as the chef de mission, included Marlo Pinder riding Crabbswood Sebastian, Sienna Jones riding Gngadget de Peley, Alana Pyfrom riding Rapido du Bosquet and Connor Watkins riding Santiago DW. The coach is Rai Burch.

The World Clubs Tournament is a part of the Generali Open de France competition and is considered to be one of the biggest equestrian events in the world. 

And although they anticipated finishing higher on the podium, Bahamas Equestrian president Cathy Ramsingh-Pierre said they were pleased with their placing behind gold medal winners Venezuela and silver medallists Italy.

“Our athletes’ performances speaks to the continuing development of the equestrian sport in The Bahamas,’ said Ramsingh-Pierre who didn’t attend, but watched as Watkins, Pyfrom, Jones and Pinder competed in that order. 

“This year’s team was composed of younger, relatively less experienced riders. “However, their diligent training in preparation for the event paid off,” she added.

Ramsingh-Pierre admitted that things didn’t go as smoothly as they had hoped on day one, but the team members never lost their focus and determination. She noted that on day two, they fought through every round and, at the end of the day, they were rewarded with their podium stance.

Without the efforts of coach Burch and Mello, the chef de mission, Ramsingh-Pierre noted that Team Bahamas would not have been able to perform as well as they did against their notable opponents from Venezuela and Italy.

Mello expressed her gratitude to the members of the team. “I’m very proud of Team Bahamas. We had our ups and our downs,” she said. “They worked extremely hard as a team and we succeeded with the bronze medal. We can’t ask for more from the kids. Well done kids.”

As for Burch, he was just pleased to see how well they kept their composure after a slow start to the competition on Monday.

“It was a tough first day, but we managed to pull it together for the second day and they managed to pull it off after a good long sleep,” he said. 

“They were able to keep the focus on the second day to finish third.”

For the team’s quartet, it was just simply a matter of taking care of business when they needed to. “I am very thankful and happy and proud of the team for our progress and performance in this meet,” said Watkins, a 17-year-old student of Queen’s College.

Jones, a 15-year-old attending Culver Academy in Indiana, stated that she’s also “very happy with our performance and our team work. We are thankful to everybody who contributed to the team’s success. 

Pinder, a 12-year-old student of King’s College, took it a bit further, adding that she was just “thankful that my horse was really good and I’m just really glad to be here.”

And Pyfrom, a 14-year-also attending King’s College, wrapped it up by saying that she was “really excited and happy with our results. I think everyone rode to the best of their abilities” and she thanked all of the members of Team Bahamas who supported them behind the scenes.

Team Bahamas is expected to return home today.