Queen’s University Belfast played host to this year’s Equestrian Intervarsity Championships, where Dublin University’s Equestrian Club’s team of 22 riders excelled across the three disciplines in competition. Show Jumping was run on a round system, where four riders from different teams ride the same horse and the best rider on each horse goes through.
Jack Hutchinson, the current Club President; Robbie Kearns; Cian Weldon; and Jemma Parkhill progressed to the the second round after extremely proficient displays. Kearns and Parkhill then went one step further into the third round, where Kearns finished third and Parkhill demonstrated her mastery of the discipline taking first place individually in a field of 120 competitors. Hutchinson, Weldon and Kearns won the team first place award, crowning a perfect show jumping start.
In dressage, a highly technical form of riding whereby a rider and their horse must execute a series of established movements, Trinity also performed impressively, with around 80 competitors from colleges across Ireland involved. Emma Kennedy and Isabelle Odlum progressed to the second round in a competitive field, while Alexandra Wrede took sixth place individually after shining in the third round. The team competition saw a team made up of Cáit Murphy, Wrede and Kennedy finish third overall and a second Trinity team, made up of Rebecca Andrews, Isabelle Odlum and Alice Alexander finished sixth.
The third event of the weekend was the Prix Caprilli, which is a one round competition and tests a riders ability to manage their horse’s gait, balance and jumping style. Trinity put in another solid performance here, Aisha Khaled taking fourth individually and Madelyn Eaves fifth. The combined team of Madelyn Eaves, Zoe Coakley and Katie Dunphy finished fourth overall.
The consistent nature of Trinity’s performances meant that they finished as the best placed college overall, a remarkable achievement considering University College Dublin (UCD) and University College Cork (UCC) travelled with 30 to 40 competitors each.
Club Captain, Octavia Smirren, was eager to highlight the role their travelling supporters played in the success when speaking to The University Times: “They still pay a lot of money to come, even though they don’t get to ride. Emily Torres, who was here on Erasmus last year, flew over specially from America for the weekend. Jenny Kelly and Ruth Cusack came up from Dublin with us, and kept all of us entertained and team moral high.”
She also emphasised the club’s inclusive attitude and sees the victory as a vindication of their approach: “I am incredibly proud of the club for working so hard and riding incredibly well to make us overall winners at the event. However, I am most proud of everyone’s attitude; all of our members, both supporters and riders, new and old.”
