WITH their team and individual silver medals, the eventing squad, led by Sally Corscadden, was the toast of Irish equestrianism following September’s World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina and it was great to see them being feted on their arrival back at Dublin Airport. They may not have achieved the desired result at the RTE sport star of the year awards but gaining national recognition is important and the only way to do this is through winning medals which can lead to increased sponsorship and other funding. Who would have thought hockey was so popular?

The team’s performance was covered in this newspaper’s international eventing review, as was that of Judy Reynolds in the dressage review as she made Irish history in that discipline at a WEG when qualifying for the freestyle. Unfortunately, thanks to the effects of Hurricane Florence, that final dressage competition was cancelled. So too was the endurance competition, in which Ireland had four representatives, as the weather conditions, high humidity after heavy rain, posed “an unacceptable” risk to horse welfare. Tom MacGuinness was in eighth place when the race was stopped. The cancellation came after the ride had already been restarted as some competitors had been directed the wrong way by officials at an early stage.