THE weather wasn’t always on side last weekend but nothing could detract from the excitement that enveloped Tattersalls Ireland where there was an entry of over 430 for the Connolly’s Red Mills eventing championships.

“What a great showcase this has been for the Irish Pony Club,” said the organisation’s chair of eventing, Ivan Hatton. “With the weather forcing postponements, it hasn’t been easy to qualify this year but members and their parents have shown great resolve and I’d like to thank all those who hosted and ran qualifiers during the season.

“These championships are a massive undertaking and I’m extremely fortunate to be backed up by a wonderful, tireless committee. We had great support from all the Branches whose volunteers put in a huge amount of work over the weekend, some with the dressage and show jumping on Saturday while others were on duty for cross-country Sunday and as tack inspectors. Also on hand and working hard over the weekend were our technical delegate, Gervaise Maher, and the assistant technical delegates, Elaine Lait (chair of the IPC board of directors) and Rosemary Crosse (a board member).

“I must thank Connolly’s Red Mills for their continued support of these championships. Not only did they provide class and league prizes but there were prizes also for the first three in each arena after dressage.

“It was good to see Tattersalls Ireland’s chief executive officer Simon Kerins on-site over the weekend as he could then be thanked personally for having us back and providing us with all the amazing facilities here. Once again, Eugene O’Neill designed and built some wonderful cross-country courses while he was also extremely helpful in the weeks leading up to the championships.”

One group of hard-working people who weren’t that visible over the two days was the scoring team who were sequestered somewhere in the sales complex where they couldn’t be pestered!