Punchestown

COURSE

INFORMATION

Open fences: Approximately 24 fences.

Novice fences: Approximately 20 fences.

Contact: 0872566311 or alternatively visit the event Facebook page at Punchestown Hunter Trials.

Upcoming events: Kildare Hunt Performance Show Saturday March 12th, Kildare Hunter Trials Sunday March 20th, Irish Pony Club National Minimus Championships May 28-30th.

The first International three-day event took place at Punchestown in 1966 and in 1970 Punchestown hosted the World three-day Event Championships. Tom Gahan designed the cross-country courses at Punchestown in the 80s before Tommy Brennan, the legendary Irish Olympic event rider, designed the European Championships course in 1991 and 2003. The last three-day event held in Punchestown was in 2006.

John Dillon, the current cross-country course designer, has worked at Punchestown for over 30 years, starting his career there in 1982. John owes much of his creative flair, for course building, to the late Tommy Brennan who was John’s mentor for many years. John also worked abroad with such notable course designers as Captain Mark Phillips. John became an FEI approved course designer in the late 80s and has built cross-country courses in Canada, Boston, Tennessee and Virginia. Now an active member of the Kildare Hunt and hunt committee, John is responsible for the design and development of the cross-country course at Punchestown.

HUNTER TRIALS V EVENTING

When designing and building a course for an Eventing Ireland competition there are specific criteria that the course designer must abide by. The criterion specifies the types of material that can be used, the dimensions of the fences and the distances between fences et cetera for every level of competition. It is also important to note that, in registered eventing, horses and riders can’t compete at a certain level until they have built up the points to do so. This helps ensure that horse and rider are competent enough to take part in the competition.

However, there are a number of unaffiliated events hosted around the country with no standardised specifications. This means that course designers must cater for the varying ability amongst riders. My advice for amateur course designers and builders is that you need to be conscious of the inexperienced riders that may be taking part, as you can’t prevent anyone from entering the competition. Try not to build a course for the top 20 riders and forget about the other 100.

I don’t mind people going around the course and having the odd stop or run out, but what you don’t want is eliminations. These unaffiliated events are supposed to be fun family days out and you want people to enjoy themselves and get around the course safely.

PLANNING

Building and running any kind of event is costly. The events held here at Punchestown could not take place without the kind support of the Kildare Hunt members and the approval of the Kildare Hunt committee. The help of Punchestown Racecourse is also greatly appreciated. All events need careful planning. I would begin with a rough course design and site map, followed by more detailed costings and drawings of each fence. It is always important to prepare a contingency plan as things can change at the last minute.

Building when the weather is right saves thousands. Work began on our course in October because of the good weather. Trying to do heavy ground work under the current weather conditions would be nearly impossible.

BUILDING

We source our timber from PDM. A cross country course is a big investment, therefore you need to use good materials that will stand the test of time.

When constructing solid fences I was always advised to have more of the fence below the ground than above the ground, i.e. put the upright timber stakes 3ft in the ground and leave 2ft9 standing above ground. I use rope to secure the rails to the uprights of the fence. If an accident was to occur the rope can be cut so that the fence poles drop.

I would often choose good portable fences rather than stationary fences because you can easily change the track. When constructing portable fences use treated timber. I would opt to build two good portables for €1,000 rather than four poor quality fences for €1,000. Remember you pay for quality.

We put down all weather surfaces at the water jumps especially because the horse brings up a lot of water with them. We would put down a surface approximately two metres beyond where a horse jumps in and out of water.

VOLUNTEERS

On the day of the event I would have at least four other people working alongside me as part of the fence maintenance and repair crew. We would usually split into two teams and would take half of the track each. Our job would be to maintain the fences, watch the ground conditions and rake any all weather surface used. We would have approximately 20 volunteers, excluding fence judges. There would usually be two judges positioned at each fence.

Three ambulances will be on-site at the event – two road ambulances and one off-road ambulance provided to us by the Order of Malta (There must be one ambulance on-site at all times). We also have a doctor on-site and a farrier.