Carne Riding Club won their third Team Eventing title last Sunday at the TRI Equestrian National Eventing Championships to complete a hat trick of team wins in the past four years
11 teams, from six regions, declared for the national club championship which took place at Kilguilkey House near Mallow, Co. Cork where the best three scores counted towards the team total.
The quartet from Carne Riding Club finished on a total of 95.3 penalties, over 7 penalties ahead of Unicorn, who previously won the title in 2013.
Sue Corish was undoubtedly the star performer as the Rosslare resident provided the teams lowest score of 26.5 after picking up 4 penalties over the coloured poles on Killinick Bouncer.
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Jennifer Kehoe, who was a member of the winning team in 2015, was next best on her dressage score of 27.8 on Westwinds Mr Cool while Sue Corish provided the other counting score of 41.0 after Goran Allo had nothing to add after the jumping phases. Carne’s Lisa Whitehead made up the squad and was the only club member to feature on all three winning teams on her 14-year-old gelding, Ballyell Little Jim who completed the day on 47.0.
Club chairperson Lee Anne O’Keeffe said,
It’s an unbelievable end to the season, national champions once again. It was a fantastic day for the club, the dedication that these members have to their horses and club comrades is outstanding. Days such as these make the commitment and background work of all our members worthwhile. We are all very proud of them an we’ll be celebrating this for a while to come.
“The team is ecstatic to have won the team eventing title again and it definitely made the long journey worthwhile. With party celebrations in the offing, one club member who is now in Dubai, has suggested we party there with a bit of camel riding but I think it might be a bit too far,” she added.
The Tipperary based team from Unicorn Riding Club claimed the runners-up place on 102.7 penalties, an improvement on their third-place at last years championships.
Brid O’Connor provided their best score of 32.6 on Beag Laoch who kept a clean sheet after the jumping rounds. Karen Blakely also had a good outing on Belline Rover who completed the day on their dressage score of 33.3. Des Williams provided the remaining counting score for the team on Byrneskill Sam who finished on 36.8 after picking up four penalties over the coloured poles. Avena O’Keeffe provided the discard score after the Midleton resident dropped two poles in the show jumping phase to finish on 45.8.
Clonlara Riding Club claimed third place on 107.1 with Jack Cleary (Code Red), Mike Quinn (Lovely Lu Lu) and Louise Kiernan (Lord Kim) providing the counting scores. Both Cleary and Quinn completed the day on their dressage scores of 28.3 and 42.0 respectively while Kiernan picked up five penalties in the show jumping phase to finish on 36.8. Kimberly Wilkinson was on 33.0 after dressage but Nancy Meehan (IRE)encountered a problem across the country to finish on 53.0.
