THE 2024 Eventing Ireland season eventually got underway last weekend when, in amazingly glorious weather, large numbers of owners, riders and supporters descended on Tyrella on Saturday.

These were two long days for officials and volunteers and the latter group’s efforts were rewarded at both venues with a draw for prizes. Down south they came in the guise of alcoholic beverages while, up north, the old maxim ‘cash is king’ ruled.

Also at Tyrella, there was a futile wait in the secretary’s office for Nichola Wray to produce her usual, very popular lemon drizzle traybake. Nichola, who finished third in the EI110 (Amateur) on Dylan, decided to mark the start of the campaign with the cake above, which depicts the amount of water that fell on the Co Down venue over the past few weeks and the horse power needed to work on the cross-country course.

For those interested in such matters, this was a vanilla sponge cake with vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam. It was divided up and brought around to the fence stewards during Jan and Lynsey Martin’s afternoon hospitality run.