AN army of volunteers stepped forward to assist Declan and Becky Cullen in running the inaugural Northern Region one-day event at The Clare last Saturday, some of whom, such as Jonathan West, were offering their services as far as three months in advance for the more manual tasks.

“I was one of those in here strimming, spraying weedkiller, trimming hedges, painting and planting planters months ago,” revealed Jonathan who lives in nearby Portadown. Even on the day, he was helping with the hospitality while competing at the same time.

West finished fourth of 16 in the Tullyraine Equine Clinic EI80 (Q) class on the Irish Sport Horse gelding Monmurry Soverign, the now 21-year-old Accondy gelding he has campaigned since the start of the 2021 season. The combination is entered in a similar class at Tullymurry today.

Andrew Greer was meant to compete as No 8 in the Vitafloor EI110 on Saturday and was just about to load his plaited and preened mare Sharp Object when “the bottom fell out of my trailer”. While friends offered Andrew a lift for the eight-year-old bay, he thought it best to listen to fate and so left the mare at home.

On arriving at the event, Andrew declined some jobs to do his mandatory spot of volunteering as a cross-country fence steward and with some synchronicity found himself judging fence No 8! If he had sorted out his transport problems, he was hoping to compete at Tullymurry today.