Website History

When the 2003 [Belfast] organising committee started their hosting preparations in 2000 there was no public information available from any source about the Springston Trophy competition. The Rules of the Competition required an outgoing committee to pass to the incoming Committee within TWO MONTHS of the conclusion of the event, a package of general information relevant to the running of the Springston Trophy Competition, but this limited distribution effectively denied information to other organising committees until 10 months prior to their staging of the event. It also meant teams were often using old information.

The Belfast committee chair, Bruce Young, volunteered to develop a website as a way of gathering information for their preparation, & to allow development of a corporate record of the competition which would allow research into the history of the Competition, provide resources for organising committees to use in preparing their bid & their subsequent management of a competition, & which would encourage riders by publishing scores & other team details. Bruce initially used material offered by the competition Guardians, in particular John Holland from Nelson who spent much time locating material for & correcting early drafts. The website was hosted as a 'free site' on Geocities.

The website [still little more than an internet presence] went live in September 2001 [Nelson] with a launch at the Delegates AGM. While thought a 'good idea' by most, the uptake on using a new form of communication was slow with little enthusiasm from the majority.

Nelson failed to provide Hurunui a package of general information as required by the rules.

The website was further developed in time for the 2002 [Hurunui] competition, with emphasis on developing live scoring, where individual scores are posted on the website at the same time as they are being displayed on the official competition scoreboard.

Hurunui provided a minimal package of general information to Belfast.

For 2003 [Belfast] the website provided electronic team forms, copies of documentation on-line, photo spreads of previous cross-country courses & other detail. The website was moved from Google free-hosting to a professional web hosting service & Bruce Young purchased the name springston-trophy.org.nz & developed a new website format. On competition days the web portal was fully integrated into the scoring process & results posted on the public scoreboard were actually provided by a live internet wireless link from the website. Local IT suppliers & Telecom had loaned wireless laptops & free wireless internet access to enable scores to be posted within 30 seconds of being officially approved [although the cross-country venue location was just within wireless coverage & the web portal needed to upload from a convenient gatepost just outside the caravan.]

The website was back in full production for 2006 [Halswell] with excellent support from the ST06 organisers, although chaos reigned at the end when the daughter of one scorer won for Halswell at the last rail..!

PS: After discussions with an NZPCA official the website was restored on 11 March 2007. In the period between January & March the website averaged 30 unique visitors a day, jumping to 60 unique visitors a day on being restored.

17 May 2007. Bruce Young sold the website to the Springston Trophy Guardians. A huge thank you to Bruce for the sterling work he has done for Springston Trophy. The Guardians & hosts of the event recognise this & are pledged to continue & improve the facility for the enjoyment of all users.

14 July 2007. The site has been recently upgraded, with the object of improving ease of access around the site. We hope you will find the new look pleasing and easy to use. Special thanks to Tim Douglass for his sterling work in this regard.

2007-2009 The Organising Committees continued, & expanded the use of the Website, as a channel of all the event communications. Considerable use of Sponsor's logos has become a feature on the Host's pages, adding colour & interest.In 2008 the Webmaster considered running Live Scoring during the Competition, but after asking for feedback, was not proceeded with, due to lack of interest.

2010 Peter Goldsmith is the webmaster, assisted by Brent Snellex.

2011 The Webmasters launched Live Scoring, via the internet, for the first time at a NZ Pony Club Event. Considerable background work was done before this eventuated. At the Kaikoura Racecourse we were able to use Cellphone connections. Those on the ground with internet capable phones & laptops were able to access the scoring. As the cross country site had no cellphone coverage, a landline broadband connection was used. Using the wifi on the site, a remote laptop was set up to take the internet feed, with a 42" tv screen to display results, direct from the scorer's computer. This was also a first, & provided the quickest results ever at ST. Many favourable comments from competitors and parents were received.

2012 The Organising Committee used the Website extensively for this year's event, as a main channel of communication. We also continued with Live Scoring, as per last year, with one subtle difference. The programme put together by IT boffin, Ken Julian, has proved invaluable. Along with Scorer - Andrew Hill, we received assistance from Dave Hadler, who provided us with routers to enable a limited WiFi coverage over the Motukarara course area, as there is virtually no cellphone coverage at the site. The Course owners allowed us to use their broadband connection, so that we had communication with the outside world. We extended this to those in trade alley so that they could use their EFTPOS for retail sales. Once again we received many favourable comments. During the year, the Webmaster set up a Facebook page, now with hundreds of friends!

2013 More of the same from the previous year. The website proved invaluable with Live Scoring from the the computers of Andrew Hill, & the assistance of the Webmaster. With good Cellphone coverage from both Vodafone & Telecom, we did not need wifi, although we used a small link to the TV screens that displayed the scores in the Marquee, alongside the photos of Darren Moore. Anyone with a Smartphone, Laptop or Tablet/IPad, could access scores, as they updated. There is almost no congestion at Scoring Screens, and once folk had viewed their scores, they moved away for the next ones. Watchers from around the Island & further afield had instant coverage. Many favourable comments were received again.

2014 The website continued throughout the year, building with material provided by the hosts, Taieri District PC. The organisers decided to do their own scoring, and published the results on their own website. There was no Live Scoring this year.

2015 & 2016 The website management continued with Peter Goldsmith as webmaster. The Live Scoring which was dropped in 2014, has now been superseded by the Equestrian Entries website, who do the entries & provide Live Scoring direct from their website.

2017 The website management continued with Peter as webmaster. Rakaia PC invited us to once again provide the scoring, and this was provided live. Andrew Hill with his very capable computer programme, knowledge & skill served us incredibly well. The scoring was done by Andrew, Peter, ably assisted by Carol Hodgkinson. We were able to produce results as quickly as it was possible to load the data into the program. With excellent cellphone coverage at both venues, anyone with a smartphone could see the results as soon as they were updated

2018 The website management continued with Peter Goldsmith as webmaster. North Otago PC invited Peter & Andrew Hill to once again provide the scoring, and this was provided live. Andrew, with his very capable computer programme, knowledge & skill served us incredibly well. The scoring was done by Andrew, Peter, ably assisted by Cheryl Muirson. We were able to produce results as quickly as it was possible to load the data into the program. With excellent cellphone coverage at the venue, anyone with a smartphone could see the results as soon as they were updated

2019 The website management continued with Peter Goldsmith as webmaster. Halswell PC invited Peter & Andrew Hill to once again provide the scoring, and this was provided live. This the eighth year that we have had live scoring. Andrew, with his very capable computer programme, knowledge & skill served us incredibly well. The scoring was done by Andrew, Peter, ably assisted by Leone Jones. We were able to produce results as quickly as it was possible to load the data into the program. With excellent cellphone coverage at the venue, anyone with a smartphone could see the results as soon as they were updated. In the pipeline is an addition of old meeting minutes, not previously on line.

2020 Cancelled due to Covid 19,

2021 Central Southland did not use the website this year.

2022 Springston used the site for info, forms etc. Live scoring this year was on Evoevents.

2023 The website http://www.springston-trophy.org.nz/new/ was discontinued, & transferred to https://www.sporty.co.nz/springstontrophy  Peter has continued in the role as webmaster, but others can now take over from him with a minimum of effort, and ease of continuity. The annual costs of the old website have been eliminated, and there is no fee required now.  

WEBMASTER The current webmaster is Peter Goldsmith. Peter has been involved in Pony Club since 1984, when his daughter Sally joined Pony Club. Since then he has filled a multitude of roles at local & national level. He still does some occasional dressage judging, but is no longer listed. He has been webmaster since 2007. Please feel free to contact him with any relevant material for inclusion on the site