Girl, 12, to represent Wales and follow in her mother’s footsteps

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A 12-year-old girl from Pontllanfraith will follow in her mother’s footsteps when she represents Wales on the continental stage next month.

Lacey Llewellyn is competing in carriage driving – and will be in Osorhei, Romania for the FEI Driving Youth Cup.

The competition is being held between August 12 and August 16.

Lacey is following in the footsteps of her mother, Ashleigh Llewellyn, who at age 17, won silver at the World Junior Championships in Budapest, Hungary, 16 years ago.

Lacey has been driving competitively since the age of eight, and has had her current pony, Beff, since she was nine-years-old.

The Newbridge Comprehensive School pupil received a call two weeks ago telling her she was selected for the competition, having been competing in competitions and camps run by the British Carriage Driving Young Drivers programme since the beginning of last year.

While she is in Romania, Lacey will compete in three phases, spread across three separate days.

The first is dressage on August 12, where she will drive a pre-selected route, and be judged on how well-presented her and her pony are.

Then, on August 15, Lacey will complete the marathon phase, where she has to drive through obstacles as speed.

Finally, on August 16, she will finish the competition with cone driving, where she has to navigate through cones, without knocking off any tennis balls.

Lacey will be joined on her Romanian journey by her parents, younger brother, and grandfather. Their plan is to hire a van and drive across Europe to reach the competition.

Mum Ashleigh, said: “Lacey has worked so hard, we are all so proud of her.

“She has a great relationship with her pony, Beff, and she looks after Lacey too. We are so grateful for all the wishes and good luck messages we have received for Lacey.”