WHILE most Olympic Games competitors are performing with the aid of lavish grants, South Lakeland riders Anthea Kendrick and Mike Myers have got to raise £2,000 each in the next few days to represent their country in Germany.

Mike, a member of the Lakeland Riding Club, Flookburgh, and Anthea Kendrick, of Windermere, have been chosen for the World TREC Championships on September 4, a two-day orienteering-style test of horse and rider.

The British Horse Society has asked the South Lakeland duo to be in the six-strong team, but can only afford to fund the entry fees, leaving the pair to raise around £2,000 each to ship their horses to Germany, pay for stabling, accommodation and other costs.

Now Mike and Anthea are desperately seeking sponsorship from businesses to help them with those costs, but time is so short that Anthea believes she will have to sell her horse trailer to raise funds.

They believe that, like other sports, national funding should be available for sportsmen who reach world level so that they are not financially disadvantaged when competing for their country.

On day one in Germany the British team will face a route-finding over a difficult 45km course. They can expect to spend nine hours on horseback without rest, while a high level of orienteering skills are required from the riders and incredible fitness from the horses.

On the second day the riders face control of paces and cross-country sections, where they tackle up to 16 obstacles including banks, ditches and hedges within a set time limit.