TYNEDALE’S biggest equestrian event overcame tough conditions after being hit by dangerously high winds.

Gusts of up to 50mph made for extremely challenging conditions for the opening of the Belsay Horse Trials at the weekend.

But competitors were not put off their strides, the event running without serious incident ahead of a calmer second day.

Five Badminton riders, including two Olympians, competed at Belsay this year alongside a host of local well known event riders.

Nicola Wilson, Team GB silver medallist at London 2012, had eight horses entered across the two days and enjoyed many successes including two seconds, a fifth and a sixth place.

A four-hour journey from Somerford Park in Cheshire was made worthwhile for Dutch Olympic Team Rider Andrew Heffernan, who won the Regional Novice and came eighth in the Go as You Please Intermediate Section F.

The biggest class of the weekend, the Barbour Open Intermediate, was won by Katie Magee, with Jamie Atkinson in second place.

Fifth in the class was Fernhill in Action – owned by co-organisers Edward and Jane Pybus – ridden by Scottish rider Emily Galbraith.

Meanwhile Wooler’s Jessica McKie came in third on on Madam’s Law in the Intermediate Sections.

The Novice sections had full entries, while the BE100 and BE90 sections were packed with local riders.

Haydon Bridge’s Georgina Clarkson won the Rural Solutions BE90 Section Q on her pony Orkney’s Classic .

Meanwhile, Stephen Rankin, from Darras Hall, competed on both days with four horses, achieving a second, ninth and eighth place.

Francesca Richardson, from Kirkley, daughter of Belsay XC Steward Jane Peters, was second in the Bond Dickinson BE100 Section K and was also awarded the Gill Gilbertson Memorial Salver for the best performance in the grassroots classes by a re-trained racehorse.

The Queen Margaret’s School BE100 U18 Section M was won by Eliza Yeardley on Prince VIII, with Delilah de Wesselow, daughter of organisers Peter and Laura de Wesselow, got in at number 10 followed by younger sister Xanthe in 12th.

A big talking point of the horse trials this year was the new Bond Dickinson Show Jumping Arena, boasting a state of the art Sports Drainage System, which received rave reviews from riders.

Sponsorship was led by Barbour, with Dame Margaret attending the event on Sunday with family.

Laura de Wesselow said: “We thought that we had everything in hand this year but the wind was not what we were expecting and it really caused a lot of problems.

“It was amazing that we were able to run the event and it is a credit to the whole team that we managed to pull it off.”

A raffle was held over the two days and raised £1,600 for Morpeth Riding for the Disabled.