THIRTY-eight Junior members of the Irish Pony Club paid a very successful visit to Moreton Morrell College in Warwickshire earlier this month, for a regional tetrathlon competition, which also had an international element to it.

The IPC’s head of tetrathlon and minimus, John Flood, was absolutely delighted with the performances of the squad and their results, particularly when it came to the two regional competitions which were both won by IPC members.

The girls’ Team Ireland quintet of Caroline Roche (4,296), Emma Hickey (4,502), Tianne Kelly (4,213), Grace Quinn (4,362) and Molly Hennesy Murphy (4,406), won on a four-score total of 17,566. Thanks to the efforts of Cora Finn, Hazel Gleeson, Amelie Henson, Margaret Verling and Sinead Greene, Leinster B finished second on 17,447, with Leinster A placing fourth (17,136) behind the best of the British contingent, Northern Angels (17,175). Munster finished ninth (15,926) and the Connaught Stars were 10th (15,551) of the 16 teams which competed.

Individually, IPC members filled six of the top nine placings in the regional competiton, Verling heading the final leaderboard ahead of Hickey. Leinster A’s Sophie Flood was fourth (4,411), Hennessy Murphy was fifth, Finn finished sixth (4,378) and Quinn was ninth.

In the international competition, Hickey topped the individual girls’ scores on 4,502 and, with Gleeson, Roche, Kelly and Quinn, won the girls’ team event for Ireland on 17,480 points. England placed second (17,423) followed by Wales (16,590) and Scotland (15,135).

Nine teams contested the boys’ regional team competition, where the honours on a four-man counting score of 17,205 points went to the Ireland Gold quintet of Alexander Maher (4,344), Zach Palmer (4,331), Max O’Reilly (4,237), Michael Bowe (4,197) and Leo Cleere (4,293). Ireland Green were fourth (16,440), just ahead of Ireland White (16,166).

Scotland’s Charlie Burns was the individual regional winner on 4,494 points, with the best of the IPC squad being Maher (fourth), Palmer (sixth), Cleere (eighth) and Ireland Green’s Daniel Sargent (ninth on 4,277).

Wales didn’t field a team in the boys’ international competition, where an unchanged IPC Gold team claimed the honours for Ireland, followed by Scotland (17,116) and then England (16,383).

“The ride course at Moreton Morrell was as technical, tricky and fast as usual and determined the results,” reported Flood. “In the regionals, the girls were well placed going into the ride phase, but the boys needed a good result here and got it with four clear rounds.”

In their post on Facebook, the Wexford Branch of the IPC thanked all those who need to be thanked and we particularly like their comment about the chef d’equipe.

“What a great weekend in the UK for the Irish tetrathlon squad and the six Wexfords representing their country. The results were just brilliant and the craic had by competitors, parents and supporters was even better. Huge thank you to John Flood for being John Flood, the Irish Pony Club tetrathlon committee for their support and The Pony Club and Morton Morrell College for running such a brilliant event.”

The IPC’s national tetrathlon championships take place over the weekend of 19-20 August, when the ride phase will be staged at Killossery Lodge Stud. Invitations to send teams have been issued to the tetrathlon committees of The Pony Club in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.