news-record.com

Next weekend, the Triad will host the Carolina region tetrathlon rally for the U.S. Pony Club.

“We’ve not hosted any regional rally here that I remember,” event organizer Cynthia Parks said.

The tetrathlon is a take on the Olympic event, modern pentathlon . The pentathlon includes running, swimming, riding, shooting and fencing.

The tetrathlon includes all those events, minus the fencing, Parks said. “For the past three to four years, area participants have had to travel about five hours to South Carolina to participate.”

Regional rallies like this one are qualifying events for the national U.S. Pony Club championships.

Other than tetrathlon, the U.S. Pony Club hosts competitions in riding, jumping among other events.

“They have one rally a year for each event, and they are qualifying for championships,” Parks said. “There’s a championship on the East Coast and one on the West Coast.”

The Triad event will take place at three sites Saturday and Sept. 13.
From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., competitors will participate in the riding event at Sedgefield Showgrounds on Groometown Road in Greensboro.
The swimming event will be from 6 to 7 p.m. Saturday at the Ragsdale YMCA on Bonner Drive in Jamestown.

The shooting and running events will run simultaneously — the shooting at Sedgefield and the running at Hester Park, across the road.

The competition simulates war battles in the old days, Parks said.
“You’d have to ride through fences, swim a lake, run a little and either fence or shoot their way through,” she said.

Admission is free for spectators.

For information, call 508-7652.

Contact Tiffany S. Jones at 373-7157 or tiffany.jones@news-record.com