A good day out for our show jumping team competing in the Drumragh Integrated Charity Show in Ecclesville on Monday.
Our junior team consisting of Tori Lilly and Annabelle McKenzie from ERGs, and Emily McFarland and Emma Bratton from Castlederg High learnt some valuable lessons in their novice class, gaining good experience in the 75-85cm. All the girls should be very proud and whilst were not placed, they showed great resilience against some very strong teams from all over the west of Northern Ireland.
Our senior team consisting of Matthew Conlon, Patrick Williams and Sophia Williams; saw a double clear from Matthew Conlon with an incredible 33.38 second time on the 1m course, and a single pole knocked on his second mount. Patrick had a good round with some unfortunate knocks on a difficult tight course. Sophia had a great first round, and it was unlucky to have a single pole drop on the course.
With such competition against some very experienced riders, Matthew was unbeaten with his great time and achieved a win in the 1m class.
The final class, with towering 110cm fences and the top performing students competing, had a single double clear from a rider from Foyle College. With some great times, a tight course and tired mounts, Matthews time of 46.86 seconds saw him comfortably in 2nd place, with Sophia’s 49.05 second speed round see her gain 4th. Patrick’s 60.43 second saw him come in 7th.
Gaining confidence and experience in these tough competitions is vitally important for both rider and young horses, and as they gain this familiarity and bond there is great potential for Enniskillen Royal Grammar’s show jumping team with further competitions.
