Trec Ireland 2014 National Championships

There was an air of anticipation as the riders and judges gathered in the indoor arena of the legendary Stradbally Hall, Co. Laois for the rider’s briefing of this year’s Trec Ireland National Championships. Traceur, Adrian Flynn and Technical Delegate, Karen Nicholson laid down the ground rules and the guidelines for all three phases of the competition. Riders from across Ireland and Britain were informed that they would start their competition in a map room at Leech’s pub of Wolfhill and the level 3 and 4 competitors would navigate their way 30 kilometres across country back to the estate.

The electrolyte sachets and syringes that were given to every competitor by event sponsors, Horse First were put to good use as the temperatures soared and together with fly spray they became a saddlebag essential. It was late afternoon on Saturday before the last riders were welcomed over the finish line by judges, Grainne Ni Uid and Adele O’Connor. Early leaders after first phase were current European Cup champion, Hilary Bernard in the level 4, Kerry’s Elaine Waters in the Level 3 with young rider Rohan Madhaven hot on her heels. Level 2 pairs, West Cork’s Jane Capener and Shirley Squire were in a head to head battle with Britian’s Amanda Marfleet and Vicki Glynn while the level 1 pairs were equally exciting with only two penalties separating the duo of Turas Trec’s Cassie O’Connell and Maeve Begley from Ciaran and Anne-Marie Cronin. Organiser’s Niamh O hUid and Sheaffe Mitchell welcomed the competitors, judges and their families a hot meal in the local pub where wrong turns, moments of doubts and feats of horsemanship were relived. When the scores for the day were posted, the buzz heightened as congratulations and commiserations over missed tickets.

Adrian Flynn took full advantage of the beautiful parklands to produce a fast and exciting obstacle phase that saw riders taking on challenging but straight forward cross country jumps in combination with the more technical Trec style ones. The course flowed over almost 3 kilometres and the level 3 and 4 riders were required to attack the course to avoid time penalties. Mairead Moynihan and Bambi Carroll closed the gap but were unable to pull ahead of Hilary who took the Level 4 crown. Donegal’s Lisa Moore on her cracking coloured cob, Jo Dazzler pulled out all the stops to take the level 3 title with Leinster’s Rohan Madhaven in second. Britain’s Amanda Marfleet and Vicki Glynn didn’t put a foot wrong and won the Level 2 pairs and qualified for the British Championships in August. Johanna Connor finished just one penalty ahead of Judi Pheysey to take the Level 2 individual crown. Level 1 had a nail biting finish with time penalties proving to be the downfall of many but Heidi Doyle and Elaine Neary wasted none to take the lead over the obstacles to pull ahead and come away with the Level 1 title.

The presentation of prizes was held on the scenic front lawn of the big Stradbally Hall. Horse First provided impressive hampers packed with their popular supplements for the victors. A great supporter of Trec, Horse First’s Terri Brosnan and organisers Niamh O’hUid and Sheaffe Mitchell presented the hampers, rosettes and trophys to a the winners accompanied by huge cheers and applause. The National Grangeclare Cups went to the Irish riders with the highest score in each division. Turas Trec’s Bambi Carroll came away with the Level 4 cup while Donegal Trec’s Lisa Moore won the Level 3 cup. Leinster Trec’s Diana O’Huid was a popular winner of the Level 2 cup and Turas Tec’s Cassie O’Connell was cheered as she went up to receive the Level 1 honours. The English Team, Foreign Legionaires managed to pip the Donegal Team in the last phase to take the team honours.

Trec Ireland will like to thank all the volunteers who came to judge and help, to vet Kate Murray, farrier Finian Carroll and all of Leinster Trec who hosted the event.

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Post by Trec Ireland.