Hoards of visitors flooded into the grounds of the Aachen Soers today to watch the Marathon of the Four-in-Hand Drivers, the Prize of schwartz Group, live. They were offered driving sport at its finest.

“It is a nice course! Technical, but also with obstacles that allow you to gallop through at a high speed” – is how the German coach, Karl-Heinz Geiger, described the Marathon course of the Four-in-Hand Drivers, which was designed by Alexander Flocke and led to the day being a fantastic advertisement for the driving sport.
Boyd Exell from Australia, who came second in the dressage completed the obstacle course in the fastest time today. When he drove over the finish line he was beaming from ear to ear. Not only because he had won the Prize of schwartz Group, but above all because his team gave him a fantastic feeling today. “The horses put in a super performance. They worked together as a team and were in flow. It was great fun!”

With an overall score of 104.48 minus points, Boyd Exell asserted himself against Michael Brauchle, who finished on a total score of 110.56 minus points. Third place went to Austria’s Daniel Schneiders (112.25). Mareike Harm (116.86) secured herself a remarkable sixth place. On the one hand, she was the second best German driver, on the other hand it is an historical achievement because it is the highest placing that a women has ever attained in the Marathon at the Soers. And it also meant she climbed up to second place in the combined individual classification, the Prize of Family Richard Talbot. Boyd Exell is currently in the lead, with the winner of the dressage, Chester Weber (USA) in third place. Weber finished twelfth in today’s competition.

The overall result of the German drivers is also sensational, they are on track to put an end to the Dutch team’s unbroken series of wins at the Soers. The Netherlands have been unbeaten since 2007. On a combined score of 318.520 minus points, the German team currently hold a clear lead in the Boehringer Ingelheim Nations Cup, ahead of the Netherlands (328.140) and Australia (332,880).

The national coach was correspondingly satisfied with the outcome of the day: “I am incredibly proud that we have such a clear lead and that three Germans are ranking under the best six!” Namely in addition to Mareike Harm, Michael Brauchle is presently in fourth place and Georg von Stein is sixth.

So, now we have to keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow’s cone driving competition, the Prize of Event Rent GmbH.