Earl’s Well Riding Club won the Team Eventing title for the first time at the Equipeople-sponsored AIRC National Eventing Championships at Ballycahane Equestrian in Limerick last Sunday.
It was a comprehensive win for the three-member team after they finished on 116.8 penalties with a winning margin in excess of 40 penalties over Tynagh Riding Club from Galway.
The club was also the first Cork-based club to lift the title and also just the eighth club to win since the championship was introduced in 2009.
The Thomastown and District club was out in front with a slim advantage over Benbulben and Earl’s Well after the dressage and show jumping phases were complete with just over 1 penalty separating the top three teams but it was Earl’s Well who went to lift the honours when all three of their riders had nothing further to add across the country.
Both Benbulben and Thomastown had dropped out of contention after they both encountered difficulties during the cross-country phase.
Brian O’Dwyer provided the best score, for the winning team, on the Kay Fitton bred 20-year-old brown mare, CW Coco, who finished the day on his dressage score of 32.8 penalties.
Kate Doyle was next best, on 41.0 penalties after her 8-year-old bay ISH mare, Frankies Queen, who had a coloured pole down with a dressage score of 37.0 while Barbara Maher added 9 show jumping penalties to her dressage score of 34.0 to finish on 43.0 on her 15-year-old bay ISH gelding, Ballygriffin Lester Man.
The quartet of Grace McCarthy (Ballybrook Apollo), Eilish McCarthy (Diamond Rose Lad), Diane Baylis Maher (Lilly Dane) and Rachel O’Shea (Kilconickny Champagne) moved up into the runners-up spot after a solid cross-country performance left them on a team total of 159.7.
The three-person Headfort team of Mary Govern (Roebuck Rasca), Lorraine McConnon (Xibit A), and Pamela McCann (2 Hot Too Trot) completed the podium 211.5 in third place after they also moved up the leaderboard after cross-country.
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