From July 3 to 5, 2026, Reiterverein "St. Martin" organized a composite driving competition in Greven Bockholt.
Two driving teams from De Heemhoeve were entered for this competition: Lynley Benneker with Stapleford Joint Venture (call name Johnny) and Gerard Horst with Now Or Never (call name Brammetje).
Unfortunately, Gerard suffered a serious foot injury more than a week before the competition, which forced him to cancel his participation.
Lynley, supported by grooms Leanne, Tessa and Roos and on Saturday by her home front (Gerard Benneker and Jolanda Mulder), traveled to Greven Bockholt on Thursday, July 2, to represent driving team De Heemhoeve.
On Friday, July 3, Lynley had to ride the dressage test, and as is customary in Germany, the test must be ridden from memory. Despite a few minor mistakes, not standing completely still, and especially not wanting to step backward, an acceptable dressage test was still performed. The three judges agreed, giving an average score of 63.50%, which resulted in 58.40 penalty points and a 7th place (out of 14 participants).
Because the competition is spread over 3 competition days, you have sufficient time after the dressage to thoroughly scout the marathon course.
On Saturday, July 4, Lynley rode the marathon with Johnny. The weather was beautifully sunny and certainly not too hot to ride a marathon. Moreover, at this competition, the A-course of the marathon had already been replaced by a 30-minute warm-up period, in accordance with FEI rules.
In the marathon, 5 obstacles had to be cleared, and the distance to be covered was 4,750 meters.
Lynley, with Johnny (and groom Leanne), managed to complete the marathon clear within the allotted time (23:45 minutes) with 65.99 penalty points in the obstacles. This earned her 9th place in the marathon.
On Sunday, July 5, the cones course followed. This was a challenging course with sharp turns, for which the time limit was set at 136 seconds. Only 3 combinations managed to complete this test within the time limit and without fault.
Lynley managed it without any problems within the time limit. With Johnny, the combination set the fastest time at 119.05 seconds, but unfortunately, 3 balls were knocked down, resulting in 9 penalty points. The score of 9 penalty points earned them 11th place in the cones competition.
With a total score of 133.39 penalty points, 10th place was achieved in the final standings.
With this great score, the journey home was undertaken with full satisfaction and thanks to the girl power of the team of grooms.