On The Pegs December 2019 - Volume 4 - Issue 12 | Page 77

On The Pegs VOL. 4 ISSUE 12 - DECEMBER 2019 77 RICHARDS, SHEETS, GIEGER WIN WOMENS TROPHY The U.S. Women’s World Trophy team, consisting of Tarah Gieger, Brandy Richards and Becca Sheets, beat Germany by a margin of 8:51.21 to win the Women’s Trophy division at this year’s event. The US squad was second be- hind Germany after Day One, but took the lead on Day Two and never relin- quished it. Team manager Antti Kallonen took leadership of the Women’s team three years ago, and he was pleased with this year’s outcome. “It was awesome,” said Kallonen. “Obviously, since three years we started in France, ’17, we got second, and we were satisfied. That was the first year. But then we finishing second last year, it really didn’t go well with our women. They were really hungry for the win this year. You could tell. Everyone had done their homework. From day one, Germany was leading after day one, But Australia was behind who we counted as our main rival, but they were never even challenging us, really.” The team’s top performer was Richards, who finished second in the indi- vidual standings to Germany’s Maria Franke. Sheets finished sixth overall, and Gieger eighth. Richards, for sure, was on her game. “The first couple days went really, really well,” said Richards. “I only fell a couple times, so I was pretty consistent the first couple days. Then day three and four, when we changed courses, the first test and the fourth test I really struggled on because it was raining and extremely muddy and rutty. I had a couple issues on that test for three and four, which really kind of messed me up on day four. I lost a couple minutes to the personal lead. But other than that, my week went really well. I was really happy with the tests because they were a lot faster than they usually are. Usually they’re pretty tight and techni- cal, but this year they were real fast. You had a couple good wide open. And to get the win was incredible. We were all singing the national anthem. Ev- eryone was just so happy. It was like nothing I’ve ever been a part of. It was incredible. “Absolutely, I want to go back next year. I want to win it in the individual class. So for me, I want to push a little bit harder just to do that. But I’m excit- ed after just winning one. I want to repeat. I want to keep it going. “ n