LISA: NATIONAL CHAMP
By Orla O’Reilly: National Championship for Ramelton Rider
There was an air of anticipation as the riders and judges gathered in the indoor arena of the legendary Stradbally Hall, Co Laois, for the rider’s briefing of this year’s Trec Ireland National Championships. Traceur, Adrian Flynn and Technical Delegate, Karen Nicholson laid down the ground rules and the guidelines for all three phases of the competition. Riders from across Ireland and Britain were informed that they would start their competition in a map room at Leech’s pub of Wolfhill and the level 3 and 4 competitors would navigate their way 30 kilometres across country back to the estate.
It was late afternoon on Saturday before the last riders were welcomed over the finish line by judges, Grainne Ni Uid and Adele O’Connor. At the end of this orienteering phase, Donegal rider, Lisa Moore lay in 3rd place behind senior rider Elaine Waters and Leinster’s Rohan Madhaven. Sunday morning brought an early start for competitors with a vetting inspection before riders could progress to the second and third phase of the competition. Course designer, Adrian Flynn took full advantage of the beautiful parklands to produce a fast and exciting obstacle phase that saw riders taking on challenging but straight forward cross country jumps in combination with the more technical Trec style ones. The course flowed over almost 3 kilometres and the riders were required to attack the course to avoid time penalties.
With a gap to catch the leaders, Moore and her cracking pony, Jo Dazzler combined bravery and accuracy to gain high scoring in both the PTV (cross county obstacles) and MA (control of paces) tests.
The hard work paid off and the announcement of Lisa Moore as National Champion (Level 3) gained rapturous applause at the presentation in the lawns of the majestic Stradbally Hall. She was also presented with the Grangeclare Perpetual Cup, presented to the highest scoring Irish rider in each grade.
Trec Ireland will like to thank all who made the staging of this championship possible, sponsors, Horse First, the volunteers who came to judge and help, to vet Kate Murray, farrier Finian Carroll and all of Leinster Trec who hosted the event.
With the national championships over, attentions now turn to the World Championships in Bolognia, Italy at the start of September. Six young riders have been selected to represent Ireland, Donegal’s Lisa Moore, Rohan Madavan, Katie Smith and Edward Coyle from Leinster, Cork rider Annie O’Neill and Athlone based Kirsten McCormack. As preparations for the event continues, the riders would like to thank all who have supported their efforts in fund raising and training for the championships. Thank you to all who have offered sponsorship and sent messages of support. If you would like to help the team in any way, please contact pro@trecireland.com
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