THE wonderful Co Fermanagh estate, Castle Irvine, Necarne was the venue for last weekend’s hugely successful Senior International and Senior Regional Tetrathlon competition, which was preceded by a spectacular mounted parade of teams through Irvinestown.
The swim phase took place at Omagh Leisure Centre, with the shoot, run and ride phases being held at Necarne. The cross-country phase was run over a course designed by Vina Buller, while the show jumping phase of the International competition was held in the superb Walled Garden.
Squads representing the Irish Pony Club won three of the four team events. The IPC fielded five of the eight teams who took part in the Boys’ International competition and filled three of the top four placings. The winning Ireland INT 1 quintet on 17,345 points comprised William Verling (West Waterford), Jed Collins (Ward Union), Jamie Hargaden (Carlow), Peter Verling (West Waterford) and Robert Cherry (Wicklow).
Hargaden claimed the individual honours on a score of 4,431 points, ahead of Seskinore’s Patrick Williams (4,427), who was a member of the second-placed UK Blue team (16,914) and William Verling (4,419), who lost points in the show jumping phase.
Three of the eight teams in the International Girls’ competition represented the IPC, the best performances coming from Ireland Gold, who won on a score of 16,507 points, and Ireland Green, who placed fourth on 16,173. They were split by UK Blue (16,354) and UK Red (16,301).
It was a similar story individually, Ireland’s Grace Quinn (Leitrim) topping the final leaderboard on 4,234 points, ahead of the UK’s Jade England (4,220) and her compatriot Sophia Williams (4,196), while Ireland’s Ellie Dillon (Kildare) finished fourth on 4,195.
William Verling representing Ireland won the Boys’ Regional competition at the Senior International and Senior Regional Tetrathlon at Castle Irvine \ JRS Photography
Regionals
The Regional competitions were fiercely contested and the visitors were delighted with their victory in the Girls’ team event by the East Of England quartet (no discard score) of Jade England, Georgie Featherstone, Amelia Speechley and Evie Hood. Here, Ireland Gold finished second (16,199) with Ireland Green placing third (15,578).
In finishing sixth with 4,129 points, Galway Mid County’s Isabella Devitt recorded the IPC’s highest-placed finish in the individual rankings, which were headed by Somerset’s Zoe Trembath (4,186). Northern Ireland’s Sophia Williams (Seskinore) finished a close-up second on 4,182.
John Flood, the IPC’s Head of Tetrathlon and Minimus, would have been better pleased with the result of the Boys’ regional competition, won by Ireland Gold on 17,440 points. Ireland Green finished second on 16,223, with a Wales and Borders quintet filling third place on 15,725.
With no show jumping phase, William Verling bounced back to win the Boys’ individual competition on 4,441 points, ahead of Hargaden (4,431), Williams (4,423) and Peter Verling (4,351).
The build-up to the weekend for the international visitors included sightseeing trips on the waterways of Lough Erne and to the North Coast, where there were stops at the famous whiskey-distilling town of Bushmills and the Giant’s Causeway. Following the Myths and Legends party and disco at the event venue on Saturday night, the social side of the weekend concluded with a gala ball in Mahon’s Hotel on Sunday.
The East of England team of Jade England, Georgia Featherstone, Amelia Speechley and Evie Hood won the Girls’ Regional team competition at the Senior International and Senior Regional Tetrathlon at Castle Irvine \ JRS Photography
While their Tetrathletes were competing locally in Co Fermanagh, others representing Branches in Area 17 were taking part in the Regional dressage, eventing and show jumping in Scotland.