British vaulters aim for medals at European championships

The British vaulting squad for the European championships has been named.

The FEI senior and junior European vaulting championships takes place in Le Mans, France from 16-21 August.

Joanne Eccles, Hannah Eccles, Lucy Phillips will be the individual senior women travelling to France.

Twenty-two-year-old Joanne from Glasgow is defending her European title that she won in 2009 when she became the first British team member to win an FEI vaulting championship medal.

Last year Joanne was crowned the Individual Female Vaulting World Champion at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Lexington, Kentucky.

And Stephanie Hunter, Louise Sinclair and and Stacey Macpherson will contest the junior female section as individuals.

Andrew McLachlan and George Cox who both made their individual international debut at Saumur this year will be in the junior male championship.

And the teams are:

Senior team

Lunger: Julie Newell

Horse: Go for Gold

Vaulters: Sara Shortland, Stephanie Hunter, Lydia Barham, Paige Brown, Megan Bignell, Ellie Cundy, William Jenkins.

Junior Team

Lunger: Amanda McLachlan

Horse: Tylers Kernal

Vaulters: Andrew Mclachlan, Rebecca Norval, Emma Biggerstaff, Amy Gullen, Lisa Mercer, Victoria Campbell, Leigh Taylor.

Chef d’equipe Lucy Bell said: “In recent years the British equestrian vaulting squad has made a real impact on the international stage — particularly in light of Joanne’s inspiring wins at European and world level, all of which has helped raise the profile of the sport and bring vaulting to a wider audience at home.

“We now have a very strong squad for these championships and I am confident that they will raise the bar even higher to achieve even better results for British vaulting.”

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