ACCRINGTON and District Riding Club clinched the prestigious 2006 Osbaldeston Classic title for the third time in five years.

The Osbaldeston Classic is a two day points accumulator event held at Osbaldeston Riding Centre in Blackburn, which brings together 28 riding clubs from across the North West.

Each riding club has a team of riders who compete against each other and receive points for their club -12 points for a win; 10 points for second etc down to two points for 10th place. At the end of the weekend, all these points are added together to find the overall championship club.

The first day of the competition was the show jumping classes.

Accrington Riding Club won the junior team show jumping class, with four riders and one reserve. They were Ryan Smith, Abi Houlker, Abigail England, Chantelle Selkeld and Sam Hodgeson-Clarke.

All four riders jumped perfect clear rounds to get through to the jump off where Sam held her nerve to win the class in a fantastic time.

There was more than 50 classes on Sunday, covering Working Hunter, Showing, Equitation, In Hand Showing and the finale of the weekend was the fancy dress competition.

All members of Accrington team did well throughout the event, with an outstanding result for Mark Carswell who won all three of his showing classes.

The results meant Accrington and District Riding Club were crowned the 2006 champions.

They won the title in 2004 and were runners-up last year. This year, they had a three point win over Isle of Man and Ribble Valley Riding Club came third.