2006 CHIO Aachen

Kölnarena Nations' Cup: Victory for the Belgian Drivers
Ysbrand Chardon won the Prize of the Richard Talbot Family

Aachen press release - posted May 21, 2006

The concluding obstacle driving competition in the Kölnarena Nations' Cup of the four-in-hand drivers didn't change the top rankings achieved after the dressage and marathon. The Belgian team retained its lead, after Felix Marie Brasseur and Gert Schrijvers completed the obstacle course without any faults (250.32 total points). The Hungarian team came second, with the best result coming from the newcomer in the team. Attila Bardos, the son of the Hungarian team coach and one of the biggest driving talents of his country, also collected no faults. He even obtained the best result in the final round of the obstacle driving, which isn't relevant for the combined classification. His fellow-countryman, team World Champion, Jozsef Dobrovitz, gathered minimal time faults in the obstacle course (251.96).

The Swiss team were able to defend their third place in the team classification (252.72). The team profited from the strong performance of the former World Champion and last year's winner, Werner Ulrich, who also picked up no faults in the obstacle driving. Daniel Würgler also "got off lightly" with only minor time faults. The German team's result was a little disappointing, last year's winning team of Michael Freund, Christoph Sandmann and Rainer Duen only reached fourth place (256.36). The Dutch team, who hadn't reckoned with a chance of victory this year, came fifth (261.06). With the exception of ex-World Champion, Ysbrand Chardon, the team comprised of drivers, who lacked routine experience at top international tournaments.

Ysbrand Chardon won the winning sash in the CAIO individual competition, the Prize of the Richard Talbot Family, for the first time since 2001. The 35-year-old, who has won the Dutch National Championships no less than 18 times, finished with a total score of 114.18. The runners-up were Swiss driver, Werner Ulrich (117.23), followed by the Belgian driver, Felix Marie Brasseur (121.57). The best German driver, Rainer Duen from Oldenburg, attained sixth place (127.42).

The winner, Ysbrand Chardon, drew a positive balance after the CAIO 2006 and once again praised the fantastic atmosphere of the marathon competition in the Forest of Aachen. Concerning the bad weather circumstances he commented: "If this had been the World Championships competition, the drivers would have been confronted with extremely variable conditions. It is therefore very much in the interest of the sport that the World Championships marathon competition is to be held at the Soers show grounds. There the ground conditions are ideal even after heavy showers of rain."

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