The weather certainly pulled a switcheroo in the two week break. Instead of down vests and long sleeve shirts, T-shirts and tanks were the fashion trend at the Scotsgrove Farm Hunter Pace and Trail Ride which was the last competition of the 2015-16 WCHPace Series.

Riders reported the trails were wonderful! Trails were beautifully groomed by Jill and Donia Davis, Laurie Ridgeway, Leslie Scott, Scott Tate and Nick Zatorski. The  riders left on the farm road through the pond pasture out to the boundary trail to the bridge. Early riders saw deer and wild turkey. The view of the Blue Ridge Mountains was spectacular from the overlook pasture.

Anyone who has ridden this venue remembers the wide path on the kudzu field, hanging trees, rainy day trail, the little orchard pasture and Andrew’s Hill to wind through the home woods, passing the home pond and up the driveway to the finish line in the ring.

The landowner hosts were the Scott family and the Broadus Family.

Registration was under the shady trees and handled very nicely by Deb Edmonston, and Meredith Patterson. Randy Autrey and Scott Tate did a stellar job of parking all of the trailers for an easy exit. Emma Phifer, Gwen Phifer and Samantha Fouse did a wonderful job of timing. The timers gave the riders the ribbon colors to follow and directions to make the ride more pleasant.

Riders were greeted at the check point by Anne Clevenger, Heather Daniel, AK McMillan and Jackie Smith. Heather’s mother helped out! They supplied the riders with some nice cold water, the three minutes rest, and a pleasant good bye, good luck as they sent them on their way.

A lunch of chicken salad with croissants, veggie and fruit trays was set up in the barn by Beth and Judy Straitiff awaiting the riders. They made sure that each and every rider got their meal. It takes an army to pull it together for a pace event. This team did the job!

The trail was approximately eight and a half miles with start and finish in the ring. For a nice, hot Memorial Day weekend, the turnout was very good, but more trailers could have easily fit in the fields. If you weren’t there, you missed a great event.

There were a total of 84 riders in 41 teams in attendance that pretty day.

Now, let’s get to the results:

There were a total of 19 riders in 12 teams for the Field Hunter Division. The optimum time for the Field Hunter division was one hour, 24 minutes.

First place in the Field Division was awarded to the team of Amanda Aiello from Ellenboro and Nicola Deines from Landrum with a time of one hour, 22 minutes, 59 seconds. Only 21 seconds behind to win the second place ribbon was the duo of Sarah Hendricks from Brown Deer, Wisc. and Lauren Leister from Brevard with a time of one hour, 22 minutes, 38 seconds. The third place yellow ribbon was awarded to Debbie Croft from Anderson with a time of one hour, 27 minutes, 31 seconds.

Fourth place was awarded to another duo, Karen Brockway from Greenville and Nancy Mason from Greer with a time of one hour, 28 minutes, 59 seconds. The fifth place pink was awarded to Holly Bacola from Chesnee, who rode solo and turned in a time of one hour, 16 minutes, 45 seconds. Sylvia Brown from Raeford and Kelly Hart from Elberton were awarded the sixth place green ribbon with a time of one hour, 32 minutes, 24 seconds.

Other Field Hunters hot on the trail were Bryan Baire, Stephanie Easler, Tim Giles, Susan Kocher, Emily Mitchell, Sara Riggins, Donna Schwind, Braden Spacer and Sanders Wyatt.

There were a total of 65 riders in 29 teams in the Trail Rider Division. The calculated optimum time was two hours, 15 minutes.

Nancy Hasselbring from Columbus and Donna Searby from Tryon claimed the first place blue ribbon with two hours and 14 minutes, 50 seconds, just ten seconds off from the calculated optimum time. Second place honors go to the trio from Greeneville, Tenn., Darlene Bullock, DeAnna Norton and Nikki Hynes with a time of two hours, 13 seconds. The third place yellow ribbon was awarded to Kristen Brown from Boiling Springs and Jennifer R Smith from Landrum with a time of two hours, 16 minutes, 45 seconds.

Fourth place was awarded to Catherine Ford and Connie Washburn from Cumming, Ga., with a time of two hours, 13 minutes. Fifth place was awarded to Beth Massengill from Atlanta and Mary Ann Watson with the time of two hours, 12 minutes, 49 seconds. Sixth place was awarded to Cathleen Coggins and Debra Kennerly from Simpsonville with a time of two hours, 20 minutes, 11 seconds.

There are two honorable mention teams. Both of these teams were less than 30 seconds out of sixth place. Hannah Carpenter and Nancy Kruger of Crouse had a time of two hours, 20 minutes, 13 seconds. The team of Emily and Kellie Atkinson from Iron Station had a time of two hours, 20 minutes, 21 seconds. Congratulations!

Other trail riders out enjoying the day and beautiful trails were Irene Backer, Sydney Blackwell, Mallory Blackwood, Beth Clevenger, Benay Daniel, Rachel Darash, Michelle Drum, Patricia Dumit, Katheryn Eilders, Kyle and Olivia Farmer, Lynn Fitch, Maggie Foster, Susannah Francis, Gwen Freer, Lauen Gohs, Kimberly Hanna, Dawn Harrison, Marcia Headrick, Kristen Hughes, Rachel Keith, Caroline Knox, Lori Kunkle, Kendall LeDuc, Arlene Lulavage, Lin Martin, Hannah and Sarah McClintock, Soline McGee, Angela McGehe, Kaitlyn Moss, Rich Neel, Gail Patten, Georgia Phillips, Arden Pierce, Valerie Quinn, Braden Smith, Beth Stiles, Yasmin Straitiff, Erin Stroud, Debbie Thrasher, Katie Tighe, Bobby Turner, Lauren Wade, Kate Walkonen, Jerry Webb, Carrie Wilsey and AK Zimmerman.

The 2015-2016 Hunter Pace Series competitions are over, but don’t miss the 14th annual year end gathering at the Biltmore West Range on Sunday, June 26. There will be a variety of trails available in the morning, followed by a catered lunch and awards presentation. The rain date for this event is July 10. Don’t forget to RSVP to 828-225-1454 so a headcount can be obtained for lunch fixings.

Check the website often at www.wchpace.org for upcoming events, changes, classifieds, and view your photo taken by photographers Lou and Jan Smith.

See you on the trails soon and again next season!

– article submitted
by Missy Bright