THE annual Point-to-Point Awards received a refresh this year. Gain Equine Nutrition stepped in as title sponsor and there was a new organising committee of David Boland, Aine O’Connor and Susie Doyle. Ger Hannon took on the MC duties for the first time.

Apart from that it was business as usual. We were back in the Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny for the second year in a row and, for the ninth time in a row, Barry O’Neill was crowned The Irish Field Champion Rider.