THE third and final qualifying leg of this year’s Student Riders Nations’ Cup series, a combined training competition, was hosted by the Irish Universities Riding Clubs Association (IURCA) last weekend at Kilronan Equestrian Centre where all competitors, and many others, camped on site.

“Kilronan was an ideal venue, as it’s close to the airport. We cleaned out two of the big machinery sheds, painted them and fixed them up so everyone could stay there,” revealed Shane Maher who, along with fellow committee members, Beatrice Gates Hardiman and Lydia Dawson, had spent the last year organising the three-day long event.

The trio are former students with veterinary surgeon, and show jumper, Gates Hardiman being President of AIEC (the World University Equestrian Federation) under whose aegis the Nations’ Cup series is run. Maher, who is Secretary General of AIEC and President of IURCA, studied science at UCD and is now working in research at UCD’s Lyons Farm near Celbridge.

Event rider Dawson, who studied primary school teaching at DCU, is manager of her family’s Kilronan Equestrian Centre. She sourced most of the 50 horses used over the weekend which she described as “a lot of hard work but also a lot of fun. I had gone to a few of these Nations’ Cup competitions over the past two years, as a supporter, and knew a lot of those who travelled over for the weekend so it was great catching up with them all.”

Another former student who put a huge amount of work into ensuring the weekend was a success was Co Kildare event rider Alyssa O’Neill.

A Design and Marketing Executive with Horse Sport Ireland, O’Neill, working freelance, produced a top-class booklet with an eye-catching tricolour on the front and she also looked after all social media.

A member of Nations’ Cup teams in the past, she decamped to Kilronan for the duration of the competition to help with the scoring – and enjoy the three days.

Former students were also instrumental in attracting sponsorship for the weekend including title sponsorship from Heineken and competition sponsorship from Botanica and Wilsons Auctions. There was additional support from HSI, Clyda Eventing, Gary Flynn and the Institute of Technology Carlow.

“We would very much like to thank all our sponsors and those who provided the horses and delivered them to Kilronan,” said Maher.

“We would especially like to thank the Dawson family who couldn’t do enough in the run-up to the weekend and over the three days. It was a very successful Nations’ Cup and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.”