DORA Beacom, Eventing Ireland northern region secretary, has confirmed the retirement of cross-country course designer, Adam Stevenson.

“As our eventing season for 2025 comes to an end at Vesey Lodge on Saturday, so does the work of our ‘resident’ cross-country course designer, Adam Stevenson,” she posted on Facebook.

“Adam, who has been with us for the past 15 years, has decided he wants to move on to different pastures but, in the meantime, he will be taking a much-needed holiday to recharge his batteries.

“The Northern Region will formally recognise and acknowledge Adam’s work at a later date but, for now, we want to say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to him for his expertise, creativity, patience and unwavering dedication over long hours in order to provide sport for our members.

“His duties went way beyond course design and building to include many other tasks dished out by the event organiser and others. Nothing was ever too much!

“We feel very blessed to have had the benefit of Adam’s services for so long and we wish him well in his future pursuits. We will announce succession plans in due course.”

Rider Nicky Nesbitt was among those to express their thanks to Adam.

“I would like to say a huge thank you personally to Adam for all his work over the past 15 years and I feel privileged to have ridden round most of his courses from the start and he has always been good at giving advice when I wasn’t at all sure I could do it. He will be so missed and these will be big boots to fill. Best of luck Adam in your new adventures.”