THE Northern Region of Eventing Ireland has been beset by weather-related problems in the second half of this year with just two events running as scheduled, The Clare on July 8th and Tullymurry seven days later.

The O’Connor and Turley families came to the sport’s rescue in the Region when running Tullymurry 2 on Saturday, July 22nd and, as it turned out following the cancellation of Tattersalls, throughout the country last weekend when agreeing at a late stage to hold Tullymurry 3.

“The phone call from Denis Currie came early on Monday morning to ask the question ‘Can we run again in place of Loughanmore on Saturday?’” related Elaine O’Connor.

“As we had dismantled a large section of the track to allow horse grazing, this was a big decision for us. However, knowing how keen everyone was to get competing and secure qualifications (MERS) we decided to run.

“We reverted to the Tullymurry 1 track which had ridden so well but made a few changes and included some fences very kindly lent by Andrew Napier (Hazeldene). David (O’Connor, cross-country course designer and Elaine’s husband) and team put in dawn-to-dusk hours in a heroic transformation, including putting new blinding to landings and take-offs where needed and fresh birch.

“We decided to keep the show jumping in the new all-weather arena and thank God we did as Storm Betty would have caused a cancellation otherwise. Also, our saving grace was that the six days prior to Betty were dry and the ground was good to firm.

“The flash flood which occurred overnight was a concern but, as forecasted, the sun and wind arrived around 10am, duly lifting spirits and drying the ground very quickly. Consequently competitors, fence judges and spectators alike enjoyed what turned out to be a beautiful day!”

Loss of words

Having acknowledged the commitment of Marian Turley and David and Elaine O’Connor to eventing when announcing the change of venue earlier in the week, the Northern Region’s event co-ordinator, Dora Beacom, was nearly at a loss of words when thanking them – and the entire team of officials and volunteers – for their efforts on Saturday particularly after the effects of Storm Betty on Friday night.

The second water had to be omitted as it was full to the brim and floods were just one of the obstacles facing drivers en route to Tullymurry. In fact, Dora only managed to get to the event thanks to husband Nixon who was roused from his bed very early on Saturday morning to get his digger to move a tree which had fallen across their drive.

While being up early meant Nixon could check on Ballymacbrennan Lucarelli, his yearling Lucarelli half-sister to Rachel Moore’s Dublin working hunter champion Ballymacbrennan Merdios (by Mermus R), we know he would have moved the tree with his bare hands if required to help Dora who was devastated when the Northern Region was forced to cancel the planned national championships at Necarne.

As soon as the Region had been awarded the championships, Dora had started their planning and nothing was left to chance. She and the entire organising committee had devoted a huge amount of their time and effort to the championships at Necarne and all were very upset at having to cancel them. The loss of the fixture will also be felt among the many local service and accommodation providers booked in advance.

“We are all very disappointed as a Region to have lost the National Championships at Necarne this year,” said Tullymurry’s Elaine O’Connor, while Steven Smith commented: “It’s a real shame about Necarne. A lot of owners were looking forward to having a championships in the Northern Region as we usually have to travel to the south for internationals.”