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   Mid-Atlantic Games Series #2 Results

Could have been the weather been more perfect?  Could have been the facilities been any better ?(fantastic with fast footing).  Could have been the event planning been more organized? (thanks Diane!).  Could have been the competition level been more outstanding?  The second Mid-Atlantic Games Series was unbelievable!  All the divisions were the most fun, the closest and the fastest I have ever seen.

Saturday began with Fossils division running with two pairs teams.  The closely matched teams of Zippy Chickies and Hot Flashes tied 3 times during the morning session and even finished out the last race in a dead heat. Hot Flashes edged out Zippies by 1 point.

The first heat of the Master session started off EARLY with teams Stars, Punk Rock Ponies, Zebras, White Ice, and Skittles.  The Punk Rock Ponies took off with the lead.  White Ice tied them with three games left but the Punk Rockers finished strong to lead by 6.  White Ice and Stars tied for second.  Zebras and Skittles were plagued by a couple of eliminations leaving them tied for fourth.

All the divisions tried out a  new race, 9-Ring was played by all divisions.  The players caught on quickly to the game.  The highlight was pony Holland's collision with the pole holding the rings which sent all nine rings flying over several lanes. Rider E Schmitt was able to gather them all up.

Teams Fast n Furious, American Beauties, Random, Laughs A Lot, and (Novice team) Bucking Broncos played in the second heat of the morning Master's session. Fast n Furious and Random battled back and forth and finally finished in a tie for first.  American Beauties had a slow start but finished strong for third.  Laughs A Lot had a couple of unfortunate eliminations and finished fourth.  The Novice team, Bucking Broncos who decided to play with the big kids were well coached by Kathy Taylor to a fifth place.  They were riding well and pushing the older teams in most of the races.  Good Job Broncos.

Commencing after the lunch break. the Fossil's second session was much like the first.  The lead changed many times, ties occurred several times, but at the end Hot Flashes had a one point lead.

Master second session heat 2 was made up of Stars, Punk Rock Ponies, Zebras, Random, and American Beauties.  Random was strong in this heat, took the lead and never gave it up.  They finished first.  The American Beauties found their "groove" and finished second.  An elimination hurt the Punk Rock Ponies who came in a close third.  Zebras also came on strong to edge out Stars for fourth.  The only casualty was the tent pegging race.  The wind blew over the pegs several times and the race was eliminated from scoring.

The second day of competitions started with a welcome bit of light drizzle that helped ease Saturday's sunburn pain.  The arena was in beautiful condition having been worked by the Prince George's Equestrian Center crew at 5:00am.

In Fossils action,  M Taylor could not play on Sunday, so C Rutledge joined Dead-eye Donna as a Zippie Chickie.  Once again these teams battled it out with the Hot Flashes dominating the speed races and the Zippy Chickies winning the skill races.  Zippies won the third session by two points leaving the total score over two-days tied.  The teams were offered a tie-breaker race to determine the winner but opted to have both teams receive first place ribbons.

Because of the quick play of the Fossil division teams, the B Finals started early.  The teams Stars, Zebras, Skittles, and Laughs A Lot started off with Bending.  Stars rode to first place in that race and seven other races winning the B Finals.  Laughs A Lot and Zebras fought it out for second.  Laughs A Lot squeaked out a two point lead to finish second followed by Zebras.  Team Skittles finished fourth with a strong performance in Sword.  This was Skittles first Master's competition.  They are improving quickly after playing last year and at the Mid Atlantic #1 as Novices.  Thanks also to the Zebras player who moved over to the Skittles team after one of the Skittles took a tumble.

Punk Rock Ponies, Random, White Ice, Fast n Furious, and American Beauties rounded out the A Finals. Although White Ice came up with six first place finishes to Fast N Furious' five, they were an "all or nothing" team and finished second behind Fast n Furious.  Random were right on everyone's heels with a third place finish.  Punk Rock Ponies came in a strong fourth.  American Beauties took fifth.

We want to thank the Zebras and American Beauties for traveling down from Pennsylvania for their first MGAA competition. This was also the first MGAA competition for the Laughs A Lot team who just live up the road from the PGEC. We hope they had a great time and will be back soon. 

Thanks go out to the following officials for their time and effort – Diane Hickok, competition organizer.  This was Diane's first time organizing ANY type of competition and she did a fantastic job! Everything was were it was supposed to be and when it was supposed to be. Thanks also to Donna McCready, head guru of equipment and TD; Janey Lawrence and Ed Welniak, wielders of the magical flag and oracle of rules (also known as the referee), Leigh Stalter, holder of the rule book and finish line judge, and Sharon Brown, scorer, announcer and equipment purveyor. Thanks also to ALL of the equipment pit crew for all their tireless work lugging equipment here, there, and everywhere. I will not attempt to name everyone because I am sure that I would forget someone important. Just know that without you, we could not possibly run these competitions.

Hope to see everyone at the MidAtlantic 3, scheduled for August 7/8 at the Gloucester County 4-H Fair Grounds near Marlton, N.J.

Report from Sharon Brown, one of the assistants, MidAtlantic2 competition.