Endurance Ireland
The future of Irish Endurance

The 2017 Endurance Ireland National Championships will be held on the 24 September in Larkfield, Athy, Co. Kildare.   In a change to other years, Endurance Ireland have decided to open our Open and Intermediate Classes to suitably qualified non members.  Horse-Rider combinations that are suitably qualified to enter the classes must contact Anne on 087 6552250 or endurancetreasurer@gmail.com or Yvonne on 087 9512896, with their qualification details and enter before the 11th September.  

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

The venue will open at 10am.  All Novice, Intermediate and Open Riders to be out on course by 11am, with all Trail and ID Riders to be out on course by midday. 

SPONSORS

We are thrilled to announce that Kehoe Bros. Horse Feeds have sponsored our prizes.  Check them out on Facebook/Kehoe Bros

We are also delighted to announce our RID/AID class is sponsored again this year by the IDHBA.  

Endurance Ireland would like to thank all of our sponsors for their continued support.

PRIZES

Prizes will be awarded for first to third places in all classes, with the prizes given to all Juniors who participate. 

CLASS DETAILS

Junior Class (Distance: 10-16km) 

This class is open to all Junior Riders (under 18), who if under 14 years of age, must be accompanied.  The distance will be between 10 - 16km.  Prizes and rosettes will be given to all participants.

Trail Ride Class (Distance: <=32km)

This class is open to members and non members, this class will be at a set speed which will be announced on the day. The winner will be the horse and rider combination who achieve the speed or closest to the speed, if there is more than one combination to achieve the set speed the winner will be judged on heart rate and presentation time.   Please note all riders under 14 years of age must be accompanied.   Horses must be 4 years and older. 

RID/AID Class (Distance: <=32km)

This class is open to RID/AID horses, passport must be produced on the day.  There will be two sub classes in this event, individual and team.  The teams will consist of 3 horse and rider combinations.  This class will be at a set speed which will be announced on the day. The winner will be the horse and rider combination who achieve the speed or closest to the speed and the team who achieve the speed or closest to the speed.  If there is more than one combination to achieve the set speed the winner will be judged on heart rate and presentation time.  Please note all riders under 14 years of age must be accompanied.  Horses must be 4 years and older

Note:

This year we are going to run all 3 of the next classes over the same distance, i.e. all classes will compete over the same course, however the restrictions and rules for riders and horses will differ as per below:

Novice Class (Distance: >40km)

This class is open to all member rider and horse combinations who are no higher than Novice qualified, this class will be at a set speed to be announced on the day. The winner will be the horse and rider combination who achieve the speed or closest to the speed, if there is more than one combination to achieve the set speed the winner will be judged on heart rate and presentation time.  This class is open to members only.

Intermediate Class (Distance: >40km)

This class is open to all riders who are no higher than Intermediate qualified only, this class will be at a set speed to be announced on the day. The winner will be the horse and rider combination who achieve the speed or closest to the speed, if there is more than one combination to achieve the set speed the winner will be judged on heart rate and presentation time.  This class is open to both members and non members. 

Open Class (Distance: >40km)

This class is open to all riders who are a minimum of open qualified.  There is no maximum speed for Open Qualified riders, however in the event that a member is riding a non-open qualified horse, speed restrictions will apply in accordance with the horses grading.  This class is open to both members and non members, however all non members must be riding open qualified horses.  

 

Our National Championships were hosted yet again by our chairman Paddy Miller in Larkfield, Athy, Co. Kildare on Sunday 25th of September. Paddy did yet again a super job on setting a course conducive to good riding and that was reflected in the speeds. Our trail, Irish Draught and novice classes were of set speeds of 14.2kph. Our intermediate was set at 16kph and our open was a race with no upper speeds. Our open and intermediate riders didn’t disappoint speed wise, but given the up in speeds over the last number of years worldwide a rider is no longer in the running with slower speeds of 13/14kph at the higher distances especially if you have ambition to move up the miles.

Our morning started a foggy one, with riders hoping that it would blow off to be a nice day even though talk of rain was circling within the venue. Riders knew that the weather was going to dictate the crewing on the day too.

Our vet Aisling Fenton arrived to begin the vetting at 8.30am with our riders who were looking forward to getting out on course. Our open and intermediate riders took to the course at 9am. Evelyn Moore on Boston Rose, Terri Moore on her home bred Gales Hill Sabre and Madison Flaherty on her pony Bobby took to the tracks with gusto that morning. Their crews knew after the first loop that there was going to be no hanging around with the riders setting a comfortable pace of 16.2kph. At the first mid way vetting for the open riders both combinations passed the watchful eye of Aisling. Madison in the intermediate class presented extremely quickly to our vet (under 2mins) with her pony Bobby.

After the hold in the vet gate riders were back out on course. It was great to see riders keeping their crew busy for the day with crews crewing both at the venue and out on course. Madison finished crossing the line at exactly 16kph on the 65km track which was super going bearing in mind that Madison was only turning 15 years old.  Once again Madison presented to the vet with very quick times and passed with flying colors.

Evelyn and Terri were both on their second mid way vetting of the 80km ER and both horses presented to the vet and the combinations settled into a 30min hold before going out on their last loop. Unfortunately on the last loop the heavens opened down on all the riders that were still out on course. The rain came down hard for about 30 minutes but given the speeds the riders were going at that was over half the loop. The finish made for race to the line with both riders seeing who was going to hit the finish first. The crews were put to the test crewing with the weather having changed with cold winds running across the venue. The combination of wet horses and cold winds made for a change in crewing tactics to the two previous vet gates. Both horses were again presented to our vet Aisling with Evelyn’s mare up first and Terri’s gelding up second. The finish resulted in Evelyn becoming our Open champion of 2016.

Our first trail rider came quite a distance to compete with us. Jacob Marrow and his Arab x appaloosa gelding Tambo traveled from the north down for their first event with us. Jacob had already had a successful year having won the young rider FEI 1* in Scotland earlier in the year. Jacob headed out on course with his Dad James watching on, Jacob hit the first loop just over 14.2kph giving him the few minutes to be crewed by his dad at the venue. Jacob headed out on his second loop at the same speeds. Jacob took his time checks along the course and came into sight at the top of the course with the looks of hitting the set speed. Even when passing the line he checked the time for a last time. All our riders had to present to the vet on the day in case two riders or more hit the same speeds, it then came down to presentation times and heart rates.

Our next riders out for the trail ride were Susanne O’Rourke and her daughter Natasha and both riders took out on track just as we expected …they were going for the win too. Both mother and daughter came through the venue off the first loop with crews and on lookers knowing it was going to be tight between all trail riders. On passing the line times were checked again by riders who quickly headed back to their boxes to prepare their horses for the vetting. Both Susanne’s and Natasha’s horses sailed through the vetting.

Pat Cooney and his daughter Niamh took on the full trail ride on the day and this kept the trail championship riders guessing through out the day. Pat and Niamh have been hitting most of the trail rides this season with their horses, missing out on very few events. This father daughter combo took the course on with ease on the day and both horses again flew through the vetting.

Lara Brennan and Regina Quinn ( of Stradbally Equestrian Centre) who are now familiar faces to Endurance Ireland both headed out on track along side Regina’s husband Paddy who was riding in the Irish Draught class. The girls and Paddy flew around the course which was no problem to both horses and riders.  Our final trail rider of the day was Patrick Byrne with his mare Amber, Patrick and Amber quickly completed the course.  

Anne Kinsella, Ann Clarke and Kate Wall were next out on course. Anne was taking on the Novice championship while Ann Clarke the trail class and Kate was taking part in her first ever endurance event and was riding the junior class.  Anne Kinsella and her regular mount Gales Hill Scimitar had two vetting, pre and post as did  Ann.  Ann, who is absolutely no stranger to endurance having competed her Arab Stallion Mavros in endurance, had her mare Jasmine out and Kate took the ride of Gales Hill Tara who would in days gone by have been Anne Kinsella’s ride. Anne took Galeshill Scimitar around the course with Ann and Kate riding for most of the course with Anne. All the riders then presented to the vet for a final result. Much to the delight of everyone including Anne she was crowned Novice Champion of 2016.

In the end it finished a tight 1st,2nd,3rd for the Trail champion. There was 6 minutes between 1st and 3rd place with Pat Cooney coming 3rd, Susanne O’Rourke in 2nd and Jacob Marrow becoming Tail Ride Champion for 2016.

Our Irish Draught class was yet again sponsored by the Irish Draught Horse Breeders Association (IDHBA) , this class is designed to promote the flexibility, durability and stamina that the Irish Draught has always had . Paddy Quinn and his mare Tia Maria took to the tracks also side his wife Regina who rode the trail class on Rosie. Also out on course was Rhonda Colton on her big grey ¾ breed alongside her daughter Phoebe who rode the junior class. David Cosby and last year’s winner Ballycreen Minerva, who is a class 1 mare, also took to the tracks. David and Minerva have rode this venue (not the same course each year) for the last three years and has brought the cup home for the IDHBA Laois Branch each year and at 14.2kph he did it once again and became the Irish Draught champion for 2016 . David’s mare Minerva is what the Irish Draught is all about. This mare rode in the IDHBA one day event this year winning the endurance section and then competing in the one day event and going on to win the combined event. A true all round Draught who will do anything and this mare will now go on to hunt the winter with David.

Winners

Open Champion – Evelyn Moore on Boston Rose

Intermediate Champion- Madison Flaherty on Bobby

Novice Champion –Anne Kinsella on Galeshill Simitar

Trail Ride Champion – Jacob Marrow on Tambo

Irish Draught Champion – Ballycreen Minerva with David Cosby

We would like to thank every rider who took the time to come from near and far to ride with us on the day. Thank you again to Paddy for hosting the event. A big thank you to our vet Aisling because as we know without her this couldn’t go ahead. Thank you to the IDHBA and vice chairman Damien Kenny for coming for the day and presenting the awards. Thank you to our on the ground help on the day, Emer Lennon on entries/ paperwork and Ben Croke on vet writing and timekeeping. 

Below is a short video of the first and second Open competitors crossing the finish line.

Rounding off the season National Championships

Our National Championships were hosted yet again by Vice Chairman Paddy Miller from his farm in Larkfield just outside of Athy, Co. Kildare on Sunday 27th of September. We are always extremely grateful to Paddy and the super course he sets every year and once again riders were not let down. Larkfield is a fantastic course consisting of stubble and grassland with the minimal of road.  This course allows horses a lovely free flowing event and speeds on the day reflected that.

The morning of the ride saw the venue cloaked in a cloud of fog which the ride committee hoped would soon burn off into a nice day for horses and riders. Luckily the weather came good by the time riders started to arrive just after 8am.

Our vet Nicole Fenton got stuck into vetting horses as soon as she arrived. All our horses including our Trail ride class and our Irish Draught class went though the vetting procedure on the day. This is in case of a time tie the winner would then be decided by horse presentation times and heart rates. All horses on the day have been through the vetting before as riders are encouraged to be vetted from trail ride distance up. With the exception of the open class all our classes were set at 13kph on the day.

Open Champion                                                                                                                 

Our Open Championship this year was won by Terri Moore and her Arab cross Galeshill Boffin. Boffin is well known to all riders as he has been competing for many years, first under Terri and then under her daughter Evelyn. Terri took on the course in gusto with Boffin knowing where he was and what his job was on the day. Terri and Boffin cruised around the course sailing through the midway vettings and finishing up in style as he started with a strong canter across the finish line.

Intermediate Champion

Mike Cuddihy and his mount Sabre, also a Galeshill horse, took the intermediate title on Sunday. While Sabre has been through his Intermediate qualifications this was Mike’s first attempt at a full 65km course. Mike and Sabre set out on course just after 9am just behind stable mate Boffin. This pair presented nicely to our vet at the mid way and also at the final vetting. With Terri who had finished watching on Mike felt some pressure but there were smiles all round as Sabre sauntered through his vetting.

Novice Champion

This was to be a hotly contested class with 3 riders having being gearing up for this for a while now. Madison Flaherty was first out on course on her pony Bobby.  This combination had two weeks before completed their first 65km ride. Madison set out in the company of Anne Kinsella. Both riders took off a very good pace from the venue. Bobbie Ovington and her mare Hanna and Patrick Byrne and his mare Amber were next out on course to complete the 48km track. It was super to see the riders checking their times as they came in off each section of the course. All three riders crossed the line with only 2 mins between 1st, 2nd and 3rd on the day with 2nd and 3rd coming down to presentation times and heart rates. Madison took honors in taking 1st place with Bobbie taking 2nd and Patrick taking 3rd. This was definitely the tightest results we have ever had at our Nationals so well done guys on keeping everyone thinking till the very end. It is great to think that all these riders are first season novice riders and so competitive, it will be interesting to see how next year pans out for these riders. Exciting times ahead.

Trail Ride Champion

Anne Kinsella had decided earlier in the year to set her sights on the trail ride championship and mileage trophies this year and can now tick one of these off her list. Time will tell for the mileage trophy! Anne rode along side Novice winner Madison which turned out to be a great combination. Anne brought Galeshill Scimitar one of our veteran horses successfully around the course of 32km passing our vet Nicole with ease before and after.

Irish Draught Class

The Irish Draught class was run thanks to the sponsorship yet again of the Irish Draught Horse Breeders Association (IDHBA) and the Laois Branch of the IDHBA came away winners for the second year running with their chairman David Cosby coming home straight on the 13kph. David is now champion yet again and has already says his plan is to go for the hat trick next year. Having watched the mare float around the course this year we are in no doubt that David will most certainly put it up to riders again next year.

Trail riders pat McCarty and Margret King also took to the tracks on Sunday coming 2nd and 3rd in the Trail ride class. Ann Clarke of Skander Stud took her mare who is just back in work around the 16km course.

Evelyn Moore brought Boston Rose successfully around the mare’s Intermediate final of 65km. This will see Evelyn with yet another horse being brought up through the grades. Boston has maintained healthy speeds of 13/14kph in her competitive rides this year which is great to see.

We would once again like to thank Paddy for the use of his land for venue and course and also to Mike Cuddihy for marking the course with Paddy. Thank you to The Field Equestrian for their sponsorship in all the classes and to Homestead Saddlery for their sponsorship of prizes once again. Thanks to vet writer Ben Croke and Rosemarie Ryan who took on the roll of secretary on the day. Also thanks to Emer Lennon and Sam Linton for the ground work on the day and Anne Kinsella for all the work behind the scenes on the run up to the event. A big thank you also goes to our vet Nicole Fenton whom without we could not have had the event. It goes with out saying but without all the voluntary help from these people we would be unable to run our rides but also without our horses and riders it wouldn’t be possible either so we thank everyone who came and rode.

 

This year’s National Championships were supported by IPB Insurance with prizes sponsored by: Mountrath Credit Union , Wrafter Agri Feed Mountrath , Holmstead Saddlery, Brown’s Jewelers Portlaoise and the IDHBA.  Our sponsors were once again fantastic this year and we would like to thank them for helping us make this ride such a huge success.

This year’s National Championships saw Endurance Ireland once again return to Larkfield just outside of Athy, Co. Kildare. Paddy Miller played host to yet again a great turn out of riders with numbers up on previous year which is great to see.

With a change of dates from the usual third weekend in September to the first weekend in October the weather and also the availability of land was a concern, as most will know the course is run over stubble and grass and come this time of the year farmers are starting to re sow but thanks to the farmers and our course manager Paddy Miller and his crew PJ Ward and Paddy Doogue a fabulous course was offered to our riders.

THE OPEN CLASS

The Open Class consisted of Mother/Daughter duo Evelyn and Terri Moore on their experienced mounts Galeshill Boffin and Jehol’s Song. Both riders hit the tracks with a very steady 16kph on the first loop with both riders going through the vetting quickly and all under the careful eye of vet Natasha O’Malley-Moore who had a very busy day.  Terri and Evelyn were riding pretty much neck and neck for most of the day and now had come in for their 2nd vet gate at 64km (we run our rides to mirror the FEI standards and therefore had 2 midway vetting in the 80km rides). This is where a rider can break away and that’s just what Terri did by vetting slightly quicker than Evelyn this gave Terri a couple of minutes in hand. Terri was back out on course with Evelyn hot on her heels to make up for those lost minutes in the vet gate and did we have a super finish …we certainly did with Evelyn pipping Terri at the post with a really strong racing finish, the finishing speed for both riders was 16kph on the day.  Results: 1st Place Evelyn Moore & Gales Hill Boffin, 2nd Place Terri Moore and Jehol’s Song

THE INTERMEDIATE CLASS

Lorcan O’Rourke and his super tri colour mare Apache in the Intermediate Class were next to head out on course , this combination have had a super year and will be competing in the Open classes next year, this will be a pair to watch out for in the ERs of 2015.  Lorcan completed the day at a speed of 13kph so congratulations to him. 

THE NOVICE CLASS

Anne Kinsella and Mike Cuddihy were next out on course and taking on the Novice class of 40km. Anne riding veteran Galeshill Simi while Mike took on the younger Galeshill Sabre.  The pair maintained a steady speed throughout the day finishing on just a fraction under the set speed of 13kph.  However experienced showed in the veteran Simi who vetted quickly with a heart rate of 48.  Results 1st Place Anne Kinsella & Gales Hill Simitar, 2nd Place Mike Cuddihy & Gales Hill Sabre

THE IRISH DRAUGHT INDIVIDUAL & TEAM EVENT

Sam Linton and Trish Short were next out on course as the Laois Branch  for the Irish Draught class both as individuals and as a team, Sam and her draught Cecil both went on the also complete their Intermediate Final at 14kph.   Trish brought round her gelding Monty.  The next Irish Draught team out on course were Helen Kelly and Lorraine Murphy from Mullingar with Ailis Holohan and David Cosby forming the third team.  Eamon Conway and Tara Creighton competed in the Individual ID Class.  David met up with Sam Linton and Lorcan O’Rourke who were now out on their 3rd and 4th loops to complete his 32km. This was the first time a team event has been run for Irish Draught were it was all registered Irish Draught competing against each other. It was fantastic to see so many riders out enjoying their horses while being competitive.  Team Results: 1st Place Sam Linton & Trish Short, 2nd Place David Cosby & Ailis Holohan, 3rd Place Helen Kelly & Lorraine Murphy.  Individual Results: 1st Place David Cosby, 2nd Place Sam Linton and 3rd Place Trish Short

TRAIL RIDE CLASS

The trail ride class was well attended this year with first of the Trail Riders out on the 32km course mother daughter team Siobhan and Bobbi Ovington (Bobbi was in the Young Riders Class).  Siobhan brought her own mare Coolhenry Hannah over the course.  Next out on Course were trail ride veteran Margaret King with Gales Hill Drummer bringing Endurance Novices Pat Carthy and Boston Rose.  Galeshill had a total of seven horses out on the day range from Drummer and Margaret in the trail class all the way up to Terri and Evelyn doing the 80km Open.  George and Lauren were the next out on the course in the trail ride class, this was their first Endurance Event and we hope to see more of them next year. Sabine Gruuing had her first day out with Endurance Ireland but being from Mountrath she is now riding out with Sam and Cecil. Paddy Doogue brought out two horses for the Trail ride Class, first his own mare followed by Emily Millers mare Penny.  Results: 1st Place Siobhan Ovington, 2nd Paddy Doogue, 3rd Joint Place George Prior and Laura Robinson

YOUNG RIDERS CLASS

Our Young Rider class was well supported with riders coming far away as Co.Clare with Roisin Conway and as local as Bobbi Ovington.   Bobbi riding a Gales Hill pony Marco undertook the 16km course and continued on with Mum Siobhan to do another 16km, this gave Bobbi the most mileage on the day so well done Bobbi and Marco.  Roisin and her pony Peppy did the course with Dad Eamon who was competing in the ID Class.   Madison Flaherty on Molly’s Sister and brother George on Bobbi took to the tracks with dad Richard on camera duty for the day, with all of the mileage under their belts already this year, the 4 had no trouble with the 16km.  Newcomers Laura and Leanne on Harry and Tara also headed out to complete the 16km track.   Bobbi Ovington and Marco were awarded the Young Rider Award in this class. 

Riders were lucky on the day that the weather held off for most of the day, only coming towards the end did it come in hot and heavy for a number of riders who were presenting for vetting but this didn’t stop our vet nor did the horses really seem to mind.

Our National Championship could not have happened if it was not for a number of people. We would like to thank the on the ground people on the day: Rosemarie Ryan for keeping all our records in check for the day, Kevin Croke for the time keeping both at the start and finish line and the vet gate, Damien Kenny for our passport control, Paddy Miller, PJ Ward and Paddy Doogue for the course marking, Ben Croke for vet writing and Natasha O’Malley-Moore our vet.