COVID prevented the Northern Region of Eventing Ireland staging their post-season awards ball for the past two years but, following the lifting of restrictions, a pre-season version was held in the La Mon Hotel and Country Club last Friday night when the achievements of the 2020/2021 seasons were celebrated.

Following a drinks reception, the awards were presented by regional chair Catherine Abbott with Raymond Bready doing his usual excellent job as MC as he did for the auction and ballot. In his introduction, Raymond referenced absent friends including the late Philip White who sadly died last May after hosting the Maddybenny event.

In addition to the annual awards, three special presentations, which are normally made at the Annual General Meeting, were given out on Friday as this year’s AGM had been conducted by zoom.

The Jack Stinson award for contribution to eventing through effort, endeavour and example was presented to Vanne Campbell and Verner Pledl for their contribution to timekeeping at events. The John Martin award for contribution to the advancement and promotion of the sport was presented to Claire Palmer for her contribution to scoring. Joseph Murphy was the winner of the Pooler award for international performance (not based on points gained).

As usual, it was a well-organised night – thanks to Dora Beacom and her team – with lovely food, super entertainment and music by The Bizz. It was a real ‘society event’ enjoyed by competitors, sponsors, supporters, owners, breeders and landowners.

Digging deep

Some dug deep to buy auction lots which included registration with Eventing Ireland of a rider and one horse, a six-lamp equine solarium manufactured by Richard Nesbitt, a Horse First hamper and a commission for a painting of a horse’s head in either acrylic paint or charcoal by Alison Baird.

The list of ballot prizes was varied and extensive but two items stood out – multicoloured beanies which to were to make their way onto the dancefloor by night’s end.

These were knitted by Jean Mitchell and a team based in Hillsborough as part of charitable work they undertake for deserving causes in Africa. As if we needed reminding, Jean, who attended the ball, is a woman of many talents!

To no great surprise, the perennial winner Steven Smith was presented with the award as leading rider while the leading owner-bred horse, for the third year in a row, was the Smith-ridden Handsome Starr.

A full list of award winners can be found on the Eventing Ireland website. John Gibson, of Sporting Images, provided beautiful personalised gift boxes containing wine for the gents, prosecco for the ladies and sparkling non-alcoholic drink for the under-age winners.