Kent Target claimed their third consecutive A grade crown at the UKPA National Championships on the 25th of August. They overcame Cotswold in the last match of the weekend to lift the trophy. Kent lead the match from early on and in the middle it looked liked they might start to run away with it but in the 5th chukka Danny Duhig and his Cotswold team mates pulled out a big chukka to get the scores level again going into the last chukka. They were helped in the fifth chukka by Kent giving away a couple of free goals for late tackles and head hits but in the sixth Jason Webb came out and steadied the ship again and lead his team through to another win.

In the B grade Vale Impi managed to do what no one has done all year and that was defeat Rugby. Rugby have had the run of the B grade all year, mainly due to the considerable skills of Luke Lossberg but when it mattered most Vale Impi found the answer to the problems he has caused them all year and managed to win by 8 goals in a hard fought match. Rugby did duly defeat all other competitors in the round robin competition and finished in second place and Luke himself still won best number 1.

In the C grade the Arden youngsters showed the same form that they showed at the Pony Club Championships the week before as they defeated all comers to lift the crown. That included a final against Celyn that was close fought at first but Arden then started to stretch away with it, though Celyn received some consolation when Beth Scott won best number 3 after an excellent tournament, particularly out the back of the line up.

The D grade was split into Upper and Lower D. The Upper D went to Canterbury Colts, who also won the D grade at the Polocrosse Extreme Cup two weeks before, with Celyn again in the runners up spot. In the Lower D the Ledbury Lions lifted the trophy with Rugby finishing in second place. Celyn and Ledbury dominated the best numbers in these grades.

In the E grade Vale Impi added another win to continue their domination of this grade, a common theme in recent years as each year they work hard to bring in new beginneers and develop them well throughout the season. A mixed team picked up second place, with a number of Vale Impi members in it. Mhedi Mlaki will be particularly delighted as he won best number 1 and best horse for Honcho in his debut season.

Kent dominated the Juniors and Primary Juniors. They achieved a one two in the Juniors and won the Primary Juniors from Celyn, witrh familar good performances from the Brown boys and Alice Kish. Tia, the veteran pony who now plays with Charlie Ralli of Ledbury, won best junior pony and also was named UKPA veteran horse of the year and collected the Flecha Peron Trophy.

For full results click here