BALLINDENISK was the venue for last weekend’s Irish Pony Club/Connolly’s Red Mills national eventing championships which attracted an entry of over 340 combinations, all of whom had to qualify through a series of 12 one-day events which commenced in early June.

The fixture was organised by the IPC’s eventing committee, chaired by Marina Brennan, backed up by a large army of volunteers, drawn in from all nine Areas of the IPC, particularly Area 5. The cross-country courses were designed by Ballindenisk’s Peter Fell while Tony Hurley built the show jumping tracks.

The long-term sponsorship from Connolly’s Red Mills is much appreciated by the IPC but, as related here by Jane Davis, equine brand manager with the Co Kilkenny animal feeds company, they too are more than happy with the arrangement.

“Once again, Connolly’s Red Mills is proud to work with the Irish Pony Club and support the national eventing championships. The Pony Club provides an incredible platform for these young athletes to develop the skills and experience they need to peruse a future within the equine industry and, most importantly, it provides a platform to have a lot of fun and make friends and connections for life.

“Last year, Patrick Whelan won the Eventing Ireland Red Mills Super League with the same horse, Footfall, on which he won the Red Mills IPC eventing leagues at Intermediate and Open levels. This is just one example of how important these championships are for developing and nurturing future talent,” concluded Davis.

The weather over the two days was a mixture of occasional showers and bright blue skies in breezy conditions. If the rain forced anyone to seek shelter, they could follow the scores on the Ballindenisk app.

The Under 12s completed their three phases on Saturday when there was a very close finish between the Dunhallow Dolls (91.1 penalties) and the Kildare Minstrels (91.8). The winning team was comprised of Sarah Archdeacon (Clonmoyle Tiger), Ella Lombard (HHO Wayne), Victoria Roche (Killard Wakita) and Grace Forde (Indian Wind).

Three riders who topped the final leaderboards in their Under 12 Arenas completed on their winning dressage scores. These were United’s Rian Tagney on the 14-year-old piebald gelding Kellys Young Hero, Kildare’s Nancy Fleming riding the 21-year-old gelding Cry Freedom and Island Branch member Hannah Willis on Magical Milly, an 11-year-old dun mare.

Tagney actually shared the dressage prize with Leah Fleming Hand of the Carbery Branch who, on board Mighty Atom, disappointingly dropped out of the reckoning. Hazel Gleeson of Newcastle Lyons held on to win her Arena on the 14-year-old skewbald gelding Remondi Bobtail in spite of adding four show jumping penalties to her winning flatwork mark.

On 37 points, Gleeson and Remondi Bobtail won the Connolly Red Mills league by a seven-point margin from Tagney and Kellys Young Hero. Wicklow’s Skyla Nally finished third with Mayfield Boy (25).