Airc west November 2013
The North West league is thriving away with plenty of
entries in all classes and levels, The North West league run classes for all
levels starting with cross poles, 60cm Primary, AP, Intermediate and Advanced
Intermediate and Open. The current
leaders of the league are cross poles, Patrica Gormly and Pamela White. The 60cms leaders are Emer Hannaway, Evilina
Wysznska, Dennis Green, the primary class has joint leaders Aine McLean and
Paul Curren. The AP leaders are Rosaleen McGinley, Daniel Walsh and Ryan McBride. The Intermediate leaders are Clodagh Barry
and Carla McGinnley, Nadine Gallagher is way ahead in the intermediate and
above with Damian Gallagher and Claire Wylie tagging behind. Good luck to all who jumped in the final on
the 24th November, hope you have a great time!
The West Clubs final was held on a very wet November
17th day at Hanleys in Claremorris, luckily there was a heater in
the spectator’s gallery so when you wasn’t jumping you could watch in warmth
and therefore created a party atmosphere.
The Primary league was won by Monica Neilson, with Fiona Fenton in
second and Frank Gilmore in third. The
advanced Primary Class was way ahead with 27 points John Miland, with Rose
Burke in second and Emer Glyn in third, Anna Burke was way ahead in the points
for the Intermediate jumping and Storming Norman Tierney in second place, and
Colm Kelly in third. Orla O’Brian won
the Advanced intermediate class, just tipping Roddy Kelly by one point,and in
third place Thomas Daniels. Riona Finn
and Helen Nolan won the open class.
Not only was there jumping in the West Clubs league
there was dressage too and the winners of the Primary class was Evelyn Coyne,
with Kathleen Duggan in second and in third place was Sarah Slattery. The AP dressage was won by Christine
McWilliams, with Fiona Fenton and Finola Murphy in joint second place. Fiona Monne steamed ahead for the
Intermediate dressage, with Carmel Crowley in second and in third place Jayne
Duston, the advanced intermediate class was won by Grainne Kelly, in second
place Marjorie Hardiman and in joint third place Mark Field and Wendy
Byrne.
The overall attendance was good despite the economic
times we are living in and everyone had a good time and came away with plenty
of rosettes!
Benbulben’s annual Winter Show
was held on Sunday last November 10th, with competitors travelling from all
over the Western Region including dedicated Donegal Gaeltacht Riding Club
members from Falcarragh, Co. Donegal & Castle Carraig Riding Club members
from Ennis, Co. Clare and riders from the various clubs in Co. Mayo & Co.
Galway.
The rain thankfully stayed away
and we were blessed with a lovely dry, if somewhat cold day. First of the
competitive classes was the Primary Show Jumping which was won by Benbulben RC
member Dawn Porter riding My Handsome Chap.
Next up was the strongly
contested Advanced Primary class which was won by Rose Burke on Darragh from
Dalysgrove RC, in second place was Benbulben’s Mary Lang on Merlyns Monty, third
was Melinda Morgan on Petal for Benbulben, fourth was another Benbulben rider
Sandra Start on Jake, fifth was David Walsh with He’s a Dandy for Donegal
Gaeltacht & in sixth was Benbulben Treasurer Mary McMahon on Bobby.
This was followed by the
novelty Pairs Class for Primary & Advanced Primary riders this was won by
the partnership of Melinda Morgan from Benbulben with Petal & Lawrence
Smyth from Donegal Gaeltacht on Jennys Jigsaw, with Dalysgrove duo Rose Burke
on Darragh & John Miland on Holly in second .
The Intermediate Show Jumping
was another hotly contested class, with an exciting Jump Off which seen the
lead change a number of times. Glyn Morgan, the fastest granny in the West
claimed victory for Benbulben on Tell Which Trump, Colm Kelly of Corrib was second
on Rose of Castlerea, Benbulbens popular Chairperson Finola Murphy was third, on
Drumcong Miller, while Charlie Vial of Tír Conaill claimed both fifth & sixth
places with Nacho and Ozzy.
In the Advanced Intermediate
class only three riders made it into the Jump Off where Gwen McDermott took the
top spot for Benbulben with Kyleen Jean Claude, Benbulben’s Diarmuid Lang was
2nd on Diago, while Patricia Warren from Donegal Gaeltacht was very unlucky to
have the last pole down with He’s a Dandy to finish in 3rd place.
A mishap in the warm-up seen
Deirdre McDonald withdraw from the Open class, so Vanessa McDonald had the
class to herself on Vanessa’s Pride but she still produced a lovely double
clear to take the class for Benbulben.
The final class of the day was
the much-anticipated Table C Speed for Intermediate and above riders, this was
the most exciting class of the day with competitors racing the clock to get
home in the quickest time and with seconds being added to their time instead of
faults. In the end Benbulben riders dominated the class taking all six places,
but it was Gavin Keenan & Ardgaineen Waltzer who came out on top, Gavin was
keen to make amends for an earlier mishap in the Intermediate Jump-Off and he
proved impossible to beat with a time of 60.67 almost a full second ahead of
Vanessa McDonald on Vanessa’s Pride who took second spot in 61.56, Anna Burke
took both third and fourth spots on Rookery Sparkle in 63.28 and Rookery Apache
in 64.11, fifth was Joanna Kearns and West Coast Dreamer in 64.91 while Breda
Perrin and Erronagh Sky took sixth place in 65.91.
In the Dressage arena Castle
Carraig RC’s Geraldine Donoghue won the Primary class on Lucky Cosmo.
The Advanced Primary class was
won by Benbulben’s Therese Anderson with It’s Zoro, in second place was Finola
Murphy on Smokey Joe for Benbulben, Anna Burke took third for Benbulben on
Rookery Apache, while Finola Murphy also took fourth with her second horse
Drumcong Miller, Miriam Mangan was fifth for Benbulben with Carrowkelly
Courcel.
In the Intermediate class Anne Granahan
& Rookery Shadow from Benbulben were very well deserved winners, Catherine
Meenaghan on Fire of Quantum was second, Brenda Burke was third for Tír Conaill
on Bonnie MisMatch, Sharon McGowan of Benbulben took fourth spot riding
Finola Murphy’s Smokey Joe for the first time, Breda Perrin took fifth for
Benbulben with Erronagh Sky and Sharon McGowan also scooped sixth prize, this
time on board Louise O’Hara’s BE Charisma.
Patricia Warren of Donegal
Gaeltacht rode a beautiful test with He’s a Dandy to win the Open Dressage.
A big thank you to
everybody who supported the show & everybody who helped out on the day.
Special thanks to our judges Lizzie Naughton (Dressage) & Noleen Kerins
(Jumping) and their 2 assistants, Richard Kerins who built a lovely course,
Francie Kerins & Colm Kerins who helped with altering the fences between
classes, to everybody else who helped to make the day such a success. Thanks to
David Cunniffe who took lots of photos of the day.