THE last national competition to be staged this year by the Association of Irish Riding Clubs, the 2024 Grassroots Jump Training Series final, takes place today at the Emerald Equestrian Centre, Co Kildare, where participants will be judged for style and performance by Tom Holden.

Forty-seven combinations made it to the final through qualifiers held in each of the AIRC’s nine regions. The first was staged at Coolboy in early September while, having had to be re-scheduled because of weather conditions, the most recent took place at Boswell on October 19th.

The three competitions down for decision today are at 70/80cm, 90cm and 100/110cm level. As at the qualifiers, on entering the arena, finalists will jump the course once, after which Holden will discuss the round with them. Competitors will then tackle a timed round, which will be assessed with marks awarded for style, effectiveness of riding and the quality of the horse’s jump and paces. Any show jumping faults and any time penalties incurred will be taken into account at this stage to produce a final score.

Rosettes will be awarded from first to sixth in each class, while the winner will receive a €250 training bursary and the runner-up will receive a €150 training bursary.