Green Creek Hounds opened up their facility to Greenville Foothills Pony Club for another hunter pace event.

Stephanie Wood and Carolyn Culbertson worked hand in hand putting on an active event with homemade lunch, silent auction, the pony clubbers cleaning tack for a small fee and a large staff of helpers.

They changed the way of marking the trails for this event. In many spots the trail broke off for trail riders and field hunters. Orange ribbon and orange arrows were for field hunters and black arrows for trail riders. When the two merged the ribbons were orange and white. This was very easy to follow once you got the hang of looking for your color. It allowed for the field hunters to jump various obstacles and a little bit longer ride.

Homemade rigatoni, salad and bread were served by Holly Shannon, Nadine DePape, Denise Walsh and Carol Poltorak. The pony clubbers had a bake sale with fresh cookies, cakes, brownies and sweets. Tea, lemonade and water quenched the thirst after an invigorating ride.

Registration was held by Laura Karns, Carrie Gates, Becky Baucom and Elizabeth Baucom.

The parking and greeting team included Roger Sayers, Jeff Poltarek, Dennis and Amanda Fisher, Ryan Pillar, Audrey Poltorak and Coley Gibson.

The start, halfway and finish points teams were Ara Messamer, Dodie Barr, Mary Fisher, Karen O’Neal, Darbie Barr, Carly Messamer and Kathi Brian. Joey Cabaniss was in rare humorous form as timer. The ladies down by the creek at halfway served water and granola bars and the three minutes flew by.

The coordinating and ferrying team was Stephanie and Chuck Wood, Emmie Osborne and Denise Ritacco.

Arthur and Baiba Bourbeau, Mr. and Mrs. Randy Hudson, Terry and Evangeline La’More, Ed and Petra Harrelson and Peg Secor and Luke let riders on much of their private property, using their open jumping arena and enjoying their displays of frogs, toad, bunnies and ceramic angels throughout much of the wooded trails.

Now, the results:

The optimum time for the Field Hunter Division was one hour, 34 minutes, 30 seconds. The calculated optimum time for Trail Rider Division was one hour, 48 minutes, 39 seconds. The ride was eight miles long for trail riders and a bit longer for field hunters. In the Field Hunter Division there were 32 teams with 67 riders. In the Trail Riders Division there were 37 teams with 88 riders for a total of 69 teams and 155 riders.

First place in the Field Hunter Division went to Jillian and Travis Mangum of Shelby, N.C., with a time of one hour, 35 minutes, 21 seconds. Second place went to Sarah Hendricks of Mills River, N.C., and Brittany Whitmire of Brevard, N.C., with a time of one hour, 33 minutes, 38 seconds. Third place went to Baiba Bourbeau of Tryon and Beatrice Lamb of Columbus, with a time of one hour, 35 minutes, 52 seconds. Fourth place went to Jeannie O’Connor-Queen of Cherokee, N.C., with a time of one hour, 36 minutes, 45 seconds. Fifth place went to Jan Ellis of Catawba, with a time of one hour, 31 minutes, 46 seconds. Sixth place went to Rhonda Lewis, Peter Shanahan and Susan Wallahora, all of Columbus, with a time of one hour, 38 minutes, 53 seconds.

Honorable mentions went to Donna Schwind and Betsy Watson of Johnson City, Tenn., with a time of one hour 38 minutes, 56 seconds and Rod Hawk of Asheville and Eileen Taylor of Lake Toxaway, N.C., with a time of one hour, 30 minutes, one second.

Also out to enjoy the warm, slightly overcast day and enjoy the extra mileage and jumps were Lauren Allen, Linda Blackburn, Bill and Terry Boger, Ilena Budde, Rachel Butterworth-Tice, David Carmichael, Eliza Culberston, Janice Cyrill, Charlie and Dolores Erthal, Chris Frolund, Amy Gantt, Stephanie Gibson, Lil Gregory, Pat Hale, Jana Hinely, Sheree Holmes, Sidney Jeffcoat, Kem and Linda Ketcahm, Lucy Laffitte, Alemena and Ed Lominack, Don and Taryn Lorey, Patti Lovelace, Brian and Carolyn MacCormack, Sue McDaniel, Anne McIver, Doug and Sammie Messamer, Carly Messamer, Emily Metchett, Shauna Moore, Lindsey Newsom, Katie O’Neal, Gail Patton, Harold Pfeiffer, Thomas Pluemper, Alena and Audrey Poltorak, Kelly Rappuchi, Shady Sayers, Debbie Thrasher, Alyson Turner, Lisa Tyler, TJ Vore and Rachel Wood.

The blue ribbon in the Trail Riders Division went to Peggy McMakin and Chris Britton of Tryon with a time of one hour, 49 minutes, 45 seconds. Second place went to Jason Tharp of Landrum, with a time of one hour, 47 minutes, 49 seconds. Third place went to Teresa Doda of Sylva, N.C., Megan Lapkoff of Waynesville, N.C., and Janet Leatherwood of Canton, N.C., with a time of one hour, 47 minutes, 16 seconds. Fourth place went to Deanna Baldwin of Mills River, N.C., and Lacey Hein of Hendersonville with a time of one hour, 47 minutes, six seconds. Fifth place went to Ralph Zimmerman of Greer, S.C., with a time of one hour, 46 minutes, 56 seconds. Sixth place went to Rick and Tara Herrero of Landrum, with a time of one hour, 46 minutes, 52 seconds. Honorable mention goes to Sally and Russell Rock of Campobello, with a time of one hour, 50 minutes, 33 seconds.

Riding the high mountain trails and the vistas were also Holly Amorello, Bill Anderson, Victoria Bailey, Shea Black, Thann Boyum, Rgan Brian, Marilyn Brown, Chris and Kelly Cannon, Christina Capps, Hunter and Jennifer Crawley, Liz Crawley, Stephanice Culbertson, Janet Cummings, Ruth Ann DeHollander, Kathlyn Edwards, Linda Farris, Keley Featheringill, Nancy Finkell, Erin Gambrel, Jordan and Julia Gates, Tomas Gimenez, Susan Haslam, Bonnie Hines, Emma Hoffman, Glyn Sandzen Jimenez, Heather Jolly, Cindy and Karen Kaufman, Jessica Kicklighter, Linda King, Linda Lambert, Holly Lewis, Alaian Luqus, Don and Peggy Lyons, Sharon Melvin, Ali Merritt, Joni Micals, Carole Milne, Wes and Connie and Connor Moore, Emily Osborne, Cassie and Morgan Palmer, Frances and Pat Parrish, Darlene Pavlas, Ryan Piller, Boots Plyler, Karen Reynolds, Shannon Rice, Shelby Ritacco, Julie Ross, Stephanie Schulte, Karen Sennewald, Mary Smith, Caroline Snow, Ivey Sumrell, Lisa Tilley, Bobby Turner, Lisa and Noah Tygielski, Andy Von Canon, Jessica Walsh, Carley White, Kim Whitmire, Amanda Wilder, David Wilson, Renee and William Wormell and Angie Yates.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters Benefit will be held Saturday, May 7, the benefit for Steps to HOPE will be held Sunday, May 15, and the benefit for the River Valley Pony Club will be held Sunday, May 19. The year end awards gathering up on the Biltmore’s West Range will be held in the later half of June.

Go to the website, www.wchpace.org, for information or to check out the pictures that Lou and Jan Smith have posted of the various rides.

For information on the Western Carolina Hunter Pace & Trail Ride Series e-mail series coordinator Jan Smith at Jan@WCHPace.org or call 828-894-8760.