OVER the first three days of the JCB Pony Club championships at Bishop Burton in England last weekend, members of the Irish Pony Club only competed in the Open Tetrathlon competitions.

As at Punchestown and Necarne Castle, they again won the two international team classes (where a show jumping round constituted the ride phase) but, on this occasion, only the Boys’ individual competition, with a member of the UK Blue team claiming the honours in the Girls’ event.

In the Boys’ team competition, the Ireland Green quintet of Jamie Hargaden (Carlow), Peter Verling (West Waterford), Sean Cooke (North Kilkenny), Tom O’Rourke (Offaly) and William Verling (West Waterford) came out on top with 17,129 points ahead of UK Blue (16,382) and Ireland White (15,869).

William Verling bounced back from his Necarne defeat to win the individual (4,481 points) with the UK Blue’s Patrick Williams (Seskinore) filling the runner-up slot (4,312). Verling’s brother Peter finished third on 4,303 with Hargaden, the Necarne winner, placing fourth on 4,215.

The Girls’ team competition was won by the Ireland Green squad of Hanora Brady (Leitrim), Isabella Devitt (Galway Mid County), Ellie Dillon (Kildare), Grace Quinn (Leitrim) and Rebecca Lowe (Westmeath), who amassed 16,726 points to claim the honours, ahead of UK Blue (16,646) and Ireland Gold (16,313).

As mentioned above, it was a UK Blue team member who won the Girls’ individual competition, but this was none other than Seskinore’s Sophia Williams, who topped the final leaderboard with 4,263 points to her credit.

The Ireland Green duo of Quinn and Lowe finished second (4,225) and third (4,207) respectively.

In the Branch competitions, Sophia also won the Open Girls’ individual on 4,221 points. Once again, Quinn finished second (4,197), but this time it was Kildare member Ellie Dillon who placed third on 4,148. The team competition was won by the Duhallow foursome of Maeve Flynn, Ella Lombard, Victoria Roche and Caroline Roche.

In the Open Boys’ competition, the team honours were claimed by the Limerick quartet of Ben Buckley, Nathan Ruttle, Sean Alfred and Sonny McCartan. In finishing third with 4,312 points, Seskinore’s Patrick Williams was the highest-placed British Pony Club member in the Boys’ Individual competition, where the Verling brothers, William and Peter, finished first (4,511) and second (4,333).

Sibling win

With their sister Margaret, the Verlings won the Mixed Open branch team competition while, with the Iveaghs’ Alex Phillips, the Williams siblings won the Mixed Open Area competition for Area 17.

At Intermediate level, the Iveagh trio of Beth Phillips, Beth Wishart and Harry Purdy finished second (10,171) in the Mixed team competition behind the Beaufort Hunt Branch (11,436). Purdy amassed 4,080 points to fill the reserve spot in the Boys’ individual competition, which was won by the Essex Union’s Oliver Sheldon on 4,187. Phillips finished just outside the top 10 in the Girls’ individual.

At Junior level, the Iveagh Branch won the Mixed team event thanks to the efforts of Una McClelland, Annabelle Clarke, Andrew Wishart and Ted Geary. Wishart placed 10th in the Boys’ individual competition, while McClelland was 11th in the Girls’ individual.

A report on the other disciplines at the JCB Championships will be carried in next week’s paper.