‑ Wire‑to‑Wire Victory for Jennie Brannigan and Nina Gardner's Cambalda in the CIC3* competition
‑ Lauren Kieffer rode Meadowbrook's Scarlett to the top position in the final preparation event ahead of 2015 Pan Am Games
(MAHWAH, N.J.) ‑ June 24, 2015 ‑ Land Rover North America returned to The Plains, Virginia this past weekend as the title sponsor of the Land Rover Great Meadow International presented by Adequan, a three‑day, CIC3* equestrian Eventing competition that took place June 19‑21, 2015. The weekend also served as a final preparation event for the U.S. Pan American Eventing Team consisting of Lauren Kieffer, Marilyn Little, Boyd Martin, and Phillip Dutton prior to the upcoming 2015 Pan American Games, on July 17‑19 in Caledon, Ontario.
Nineteen athletes turned out for the final phase of the first competition, the CIC3*, to compete over Michael Etherington‑Smith's cross country course, which was 3,460 meters and featured 23 numbered jumps with an optimum time of 6:05 minutes. Colleen Rutledge took third place riding her horse Covert Rights, finishing with just 0.8 time faults for a final score of 54.8. Lynn Symansky riding Donner had no faults over the cross country fences and just 7.6 time faults throughout finishing with a final score of 50.4 to take home second place. Heading into day three with a leading Dressage score and a faultless Show Jumping phase, the win went to Jennie Brannigan and Nina Gardner's Cambalda. Finishing with just 8.0 time faults, Brannigan and the 13‑year‑old Irish Thoroughbred cross added the Land Rover Great Meadow International CIC3* to their impressive list of victories.
In addition, the weekend long event hosted its final preparation event for the U.S. and Mexican Pan American Evening Teams heading to Canada this July. Taking the lead during Saturday's Show Jumping phase, Kieffer piloted Meadowbrook's Scarlett to victory over teammate Marilyn Little riding Raylyn Farms and Phoebe and Michael Manders' RF Scandalous into second place. Boyd Martin and Pancho Villa rounded out the top three, placing third. The 12 starters for the final Cross Country phase included four from Mexico, one from Brazil and the U.S. Pan American Eventing Team of Kieffer, Little, Martin and Dutton, as well as team alternates Will Faudree and Matthew Brown.
"Great Meadow ran a fabulous event," smiled Kieffer after her win. "We couldn't have gotten a better place to prepare. Everything held up well. The organizers were very smart adjusting for the storms and everything else. I am very proud to be part of Team USA, and we're going to do our best to bring home the Gold."
U.S. Eventing Team Chef d'Equipe David O'Connor concluded, "It was nice to see that the fastest horses out there today were the team horses, it showed that no one was holding back. I think we have a great team and I'm very happy with how they performed and I'm excited about how we'll do at the Games."
The awards ceremony at the Land Rover Great Meadow International was followed by a ground‑breaking ceremony launching the construction of a new world‑class, all‑weather arena with an adjoining unique water complex at the Great Meadow facility.
Outside of enjoying the Equestrian events, spectators had the opportunity to test drive Land Rover's full model lineup, including the all‑new 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport, on a specially designed off‑road demonstration course with a trained driving instructor as their co‑pilot.
For those unable to attend this weekend's event, The Land Rover Great Meadow International will feature archived coverage on the USEF Network Presented by SmartPak at USEFNetwork.com.
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About Land Rover
Land Rover, the British maker of Land Rover and Range Rover sport utility vehicles, is renowned for providing its clientele with some of the most luxurious and capable vehicles in the world. Every Land Rover vehicle is equally at home both on and off road, and in any setting; be it in the heart of the city, or traversing the countryside. Today's Land Rover lineup includes the Discovery Sport, Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Evoque and LR4 (Discovery 4). Land Rover designs, engineers, and manufactures their vehicles in the United Kingdom. Land Rover is fully engaged with sustainability initiatives and social concerns with continuous involvement in environmental and community programs. For more information visit the official Land Rover website at http://www.landroverusa.com.
About Jaguar Land Rover
• The United States is one of the leading global markets for both Jaguar and Land Rover
• Jaguar Land Rover employs 32,000 people and sells vehicles in 170 countries around the world
• Jaguar Land Rover has two state of the art engineering and design facilities and four advanced manufacturing plants in the UK
• Headquartered in Mahwah, New Jersey in the United States, Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC has offices across the USA
• Jaguar Land Rover is represented by more than 330 independently operated retail outletsin the USA
About The Great Meadow Foundation
Great Meadow was founded through the vision of news executive and philanthropist Arthur W. (Nick) Arundel in 1982. Arundel purchased an abandoned farm then slated to become a housing development for perpetual preservation of open space. The concept for Great Meadow grew out of several converging forces of the 1980's, primarily urban growth pressure on farmland near Washington, the opening of I‑66 and the simultaneous loss of the former Virginia Gold Cup course in Warrenton to subdivision development. Since their inception they have been the permanent home for the Virginia Gold Cup and Family 4th of July celebrations. Over the years they have added several more community events, ranging from Twilight Polo to the Virginia State Cross Country Tournaments. For more information, please visit: www.greatmeadow.org.
