A SMALL squad of Irish Pony Club members travelled north last weekend for the Area 17 Tetrathlon, which was hosted by the Tullylagan Branch.

The swim, shoot and beanbag throw phases were staged at the Down Leisure Centre, Downpatrick, on Saturday morning, after which the action moved on to Andrew and Laura Napier’s Hazeldene Farm for the run phase. The ride phase took place on Sunday at that Ballynahinch equestrian centre, where today the Northern Region of Eventing Ireland is running a one-day event.

Ahead of the upcoming Senior International and Senior Regional Tetrathlon at Castle Irvine, Necarne (August 2nd to 4th), the main focus of attention last weekend was on Junior and Minimus tetrathletes and also those competing in the Beanies and Tadpoles competitions. However, some Open and Intermediate members availed of the opportunity to test their fitness levels.

The Seskinore Branch’s Williams siblings, Patrick and Sophia, who are set to play a major role at Castle Irvine, Necarne, won the two small Open classes. Patrick scored 4,124 points to see off his sole rival in the Boys’ individual, while Sophia’s 4,087 points saw her comfortably top the scores in the three-runner Girls’ Individual.

Only one team lined out at Intermediate level, the Iveagh Magpies trio of Harry Purdy, Beth Phillips and Beth Wishart, who amassed 10,665 points.

Purdy (3,650) recorded an uncontested victory in the Boys’ Individual, while Phillips (3,562) and Wishart (3,453) headed the three-runner Girls’ Individual competition.

Patrick Williams, Seskinore Branch, winner of the Open Boys’ class at Tullylagan Tetrathlon, pictured on the cross-country at Hazeldene Farm \ JRS Photography

Juniors

The competitive action picked up at Junior level, where seven squads competed. The Killultaghs’ Annabel McKeown, Emma Stewart and Olivia Stewart won this team event with 12,213 points, while a mixed IPC/Area 17 quartet of J.J. Power, Stewart Beattie, Jane Moloney and Clodagh Reilly finished second (11,745).

The Power family from Co Limerick have done a lot of travelling already this summer on the Minimus/Tetrathlon circuit. Again, their efforts paid off here, when J.J. won the Boys’ Individual competition with 4,204 points, ahead of the Iveagh pair of Andrew Wishart (3,838) and Ted Geary (3,731).

Area 17 members dominated the Girls’ Individual class through Killultagh’s Annabel McKeown (4,293) and Emma Stewart (4,219), with Fermanagh’s Maeve Roulston-McAuliffe (4,130) finishing third. Maeve was the sole Area 17 member who travelled over with the IPC squad to last month’s Minimus Championships in England, where she finished third in her First Year Junior Girls’ event.

The IPC members struck back at Minimus level, where the winning score of 13,216 points was amassed by the Carlow/Duhallow quartet of Ali Hughes, Jack Hargaden, Hannah Goold and Aoife Walsh.

A mixed Kilkenny/Killinick trio (Caroline Hughes, Max Doran and Scott Doran) finished second (12,699), with the Co Limerick Branch team of Grace Power, Archie McCartan and Ruth Cregan placing third on 12,571.

JJ Power, Limerick Hunt Boys’ Club, winner of the Junior Boys’ class at Tullylagan Tetrathlon, pictured on the cross-country at Hazeldene Farm \ JRS Photography

IPC members filled all top six places in the mixed individual Minimus competition, led home by the Duhallows’ Hannah Goold (4,488), who was most closely followed by Kilkenny’s Caroline Hughes (4,422) and Killinick’s Max Doran (4,381).

At Beanies level, the Iveaghs’ Emily Morton amassed 4,080 points, which saw her record an individual win, while she also helped her clubmates Edie McClelland, Will Burke and Eliza Burke top the scores in the team competition (11,883). A mixed foursome of Lucy Johnston, Kate McDowell, Maia Roulston-McAuliffe and Robin Park won the Tadpoles team competition (11,844), with Killultagh’s James McKeown claiming the individual honours on 4,126.

While 11 Beanies, a similar number of Tadpoles and 13 Minimus competitors maintained their perfect ride score of 1,400 points, none of the higher level Tetrathletes managed to do so, many being caught out by the tight time over the Andrew Napier-designed and built cross-country track. The Area 17 Tetrathlon committee described the weekend as one of fun, friendship and personal bests, while John Flood, the IPC’s head of Tetrathlon and Minimus, also said it was a fun event with the organisers being very welcoming and helpful.