Equestrians Adam Lake and Francesca Chin pulled off a nail-biting last-round win in the Caribbean Equestrian Association (CEA) showing jumping competition at the National Equestrian Centre in Bermuda recently.

With Jamaica and Cayman tied on nine faults after three rounds, team Jamaica pulled away from the field with zero faults in the fourth round, with the closest rival Cayman accumulating nine additional faults in the final round.

Lake, a seasoned international representative, lived up to expectations competing in the 16-year and under age category, placing first with only five faults over the four rounds, ahead of Annemike Mackie of Barbados, seven faults, Tyler Lopez of Bermuda with 12 faults and Elsie Boone of the Cayman Islands placed fourth with 14 faults.

Representing Jamaica for the first time in the CEA, Francesca Chin competed in the 14-year and under category, placing second with only four faults behind Jahdayna Samuels from Bermuda, who went clear with 0 faults for the weekend.

Ashley Scaletta from the Cayman Islands placed third, also with four faults, having taken 1.45 seconds longer than Chin to complete the fourth round. Paige Tryhane rounded out the field in fourth place, accumulating 29 faults mainly due to an unfortunate elimination in the fourth round.

The CEA competition has riders from each country travelling to three countries over the year with each country hosting foreign riders once during the year. Each rider is given just five minutes to get used to the horse that they will be competing on.

Coach Betty Wates, who accompanied the riders to Bermuda, was elated with their performance. “This win has placed us in a great position to again retain the regional title which we won last year.” This is the third of four rounds that Jamaica will be competing in this year. In round one the team of Gabi Ralston and Kelly Nunes placed first in Barbados, in round two Jamaica was represented in the Cayman Islands by Shelby Wildish and Jonathan Vaz placing second. Jamaica will be defending the title in the final round in November when they host teams from Trinidad, Barbados and the Cayman Islands.