THE Irish Pony Club launched its international tetrathlon exchange, tetrathlon and minimus championships last Saturday at the Kill, Co Kildare base of Holmestead Saddlery, sponsor of both national championships for the next three years.

The minimus championships – a three-phase event comprising riding, swimming and cross-country running for members under 12 years of age – take place at Punchestown racecourse on Saturday and Sunday, May 28th and 29th, four weeks after the National Hunt Festival.

Playing host to the Holmestead Saddlery international tetrathlon exchange, the IPC hopes to welcome athletes from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA to Ireland in July. They will compete in a four-phase tetrathlon competition (which includes target pistol shooting), staying with IPC members and their families for the duration of the visit.

The IPC Holmestead international and national tetrathlon championships will be held at Tattersalls Ireland on the August Bank Holiday weekend (July 31st to August 1st). This is a most opportune date with former Warrington Pony Club tetrathlete, Arthur Lanigan O’Keeffe, due to represent Ireland in the modern pentathlon at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro less than three weeks later.

The visitors will first spend a week in the south-east of the country, taking part on Friday and Saturday, July 24th and 25th in a taster intermediate provincial competition which will be open to junior and senior IPC tetrathletes. The cross-country riding phase will be staged at Grove, Co Tipperary over a one-mile course. The international tetrathletes will then move to Dublin in preparation for Tattersalls.

Competitors in all classes will swim at the National Aquatic Centre in Blanchardstown and complete their pistol target shooting at Bracetown, Clonee. Eugene O’Neill, resident cross-country course designer and builder at Tattersalls, is already planning a challenging, up-to-height track for the riding phase.

Lots of activities are planned for the exchange group including trips to the RDS, Tayto Park, Coolmore Stud and many more places of interest. Those on the exchange programme will also be invited to a barbeque at Holmestead Saddlery.

This busy timetable will be organised by the IPC’s Tetrathlon Committee, under the stewardship of Sheila Gayer who said she “is looking forward to hosting this exchange between the major players in Pony Club tetrathlon. A huge part of the exchange involves the cultural experience alongside the experience of competing against the best tetrathletes in the world,” she concluded.