Laura Noyes and Steffen Peters Win Top Awards from the USET Foundation
Release: February 05 2009
Author: severs
By Phelps Media Group
The United States Equestrian Team (USET) Foundation Board of Trustees hosted a cocktail reception on Friday, January 30, 2009, to honor the 2008 Olympians and the recipients of the Foundations' Gold Medal Club Anniversary Awards, the Lionel Guerrand-Hermes Trophy, and the Whitney Stone Cup. The reception was held at Player's Club in Wellington, FL.
The reception featured a video with Olympic highlights of the medal winning performances of last year's teams for show jumping, dressage, and three-day eventing. The United States won the Team Gold medal in show jumping, the Individual Silver medal in eventing, and the Individual Bronze medal in show jumping.
The party honored the riders, owners, team leaders, and veterinarians of the Olympic horses. Also recognized were the members of the Gold Medal Club, the loyal and generous supporters of the USET Foundation. The members have been a vital and essential source of support to the U.S. equestrian teams. A special award was presented to Frances B. Steinwedell, who has been giving at the Gold Medal Club level for 30 years.
The presentations were led by USET Foundation President Jane F. Clark and Executive Director Bonnie B. Jenkins. Other trustees that attended were Senior Vice President Brownlee O. Currey, Jr., Secretary Eric L. Straus, Treasurer Lawrence G. Tribble, R. Bruce Duchossois, Eric Hasbrouck, S. Tucker S. Johnson, Anne Kursinski (also a member of the 2008 Olympic Show Jumping Team), Arlene Page, Melanie Smith Taylor, and Ted Weise.
Many athletes and owners were at the party as well, including: 2008 Olympians Laura Kraut, Beezie Madden, Steffen Peters, Courtney King-Dye, Michael Barisone, Phillip Dutton, Becky Holder, Karen O'Connor, and Captain Mark Phillips. Olympic owners Peter Wetherill, Akiko Yamazaki, and Robert and Sandra Mockoviak were honored at the party. Other attendees included: Peter Wylde, Joanie Goodman, Gregory Gingery, Beth Johnson, D.D. and Michael Matz, Helen Groves, Rick and Julie Mitchell, Tracey Weinberg, MaryAnn McPhail, Frank, Mary, and Laura Chapot, John Madden, Kermit and Jenny Sutton, Margaret H. Duprey, Julie Montgomery, Karen Lloyd, Eve and Richard Thompson, Judy Richter, Janne Rumbough, George and Chrystine Tauber, Carlene Blunt, Richard and Jim Thompson, Lauren Ward, George and Roberta Williams, Lauren Hough, Lizzy Chesson, Sara Ike, Frederick and Kim Boyer, and Bill and Olivia Weeks.
The USET Foundation is pleased to announce that Laura Noyes, 21, of Delaware, OH, has been awarded the Lionel Guerrand-Hermès Trophy. The prestigious annual award recognizes a junior/young rider who exemplifies the USET Foundation's ideals of sportsmanship and horsemanship. Noyes was presented with the trophy in Wellington, FL, on January 30 at the USET Foundation Cocktail Reception.
Noyes is the 27th recipient of the Lionel Guerrand-Hermès Trophy. Recounting her reaction when she learned she had been selected, Noyes beamed, "I was quite shocked when I got the phone call from Bonnie Jenkins at USET Foundation. This has been such an incredible year for us and I thought it was over! I'm so honored to be presented with this award. It is definitely one of the greatest successes of my career thus far."
Noyes has been partnered with her own Syncro, a 14-year-old Trakehner gelding, for nearly six years and they have risen up through the dressage ranks from first level to the international levels for young riders. The duo has accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments along the way. The year 2008 was Noyes's final year in the young rider division and was full of highlights for her and Syncro. They earned the reserve national championship at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions in California; won the Individual Gold medal and Team Silver medal at the FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (NAjYRC) in Colorado; and, as the number-one rank
