This year the rain held off until the last class was completed; it came down in soft soaking sheets as the course was cleared at amazing speed and the showground reverted to its civilian life as a field.

Wind was the feature of this year’s event. A stiff breeze with consistent strong gusts played havoc with the jumps as they balanced precariously on the green slopes of Hillsborough Farm. The arena party, course builder Patricia and above all the ever-ready Edwards family joined forces to fill sandbags to weigh down wings and fillers. Given the circumstances, it was miraculous that the competition managed to go ahead at all!

Considering the amount of effort invested in the event and the superb venue, entries were disappointingly thin on the ground. Let’s call a spade a spade: if we can’t rely on our own members to come out and participate in the events we run, we have to question the wisdom of running them. Support from our neighbouring clubs was low but it merely mirrored the support from our own membership.

For those who did turn out, it was a hugely enjoyable day’s competition. The layout of the showground worked beautifully. The derby course was long and challenging but the heights and times allowed were sympathetic to the terrain and the lack of derby experience of the riders. Just three competitors managed clear rounds on the day but everybody felt the course was enjoyable and fair.

With no competitors in the Primary class, Sally Mahon of the Gaeltachts, Finola Murphy of Benbulben, and the evergreen Lawrence Smyth of the Gaeltachts were the very worthy winners of the three cups that were presented.

Dressage proceeded calmly under a relaxed and most accommodating Petra Kucklick. Nadine and Damien won their respective classes on Molly and Millie and the remaining results will surface shortly.

On a day when a great many people need to be thanked, a few stand out particularly: Patricia for her course building and judging; Cormac for his judging and self-deprecating commentary; Petra for her generosity with her time. But two families deserve particular mention: the Moore Family, for their endless and untiring help, particularly considering that they are not even members of the club; and the Edwards Family, without whose land, machinery, manpower, helpfulness, resourcefulness and above all, friendliness, none of this would have been possible. We are greatly in your debt.

A big thank you to all the competitors who travelled to the event from Donegal Gaeltacht, Benbulben and, very particularly to John, Dermot, Kevin and Lorraine from Dalysgrove.

Thanks to all our members who helped in any way, particularly to those who worked hard all day even though they weren’t riding themselves. Finally, thank you to John who despite family illness orchestrated the entire event wonderfully.

Pictured below: The day’s three big winners — Sally Mahon, Finola Murphy and Lawrence Smyth. And the day’s littlest winner, Libby, who won the Best Turned Out on Fenway.

It’s very hard work building a course on a green field. The logistical task of gathering all the ingredients is the real nightmare but Damien and Francis performed miracles on Friday afternoon so that the bulk of the toolkit was on site for Friday evening’s 7pm course building operation. Manpower was in plentiful supply as most of our local members turned out to help, assisted by long-distance travellers like Leo, Marina and Enda.

Harvey was assisted by Katie, Bruiser and Rusty for the canine part of the exercise and soon things fell into place. From his perch in the bucket, Damien performed a first-class circus act, battering stakes into the ground in between balancing acrobatics as Louise manoeuvred her mechanical monster at speed around the rapidly-drying field. In the dressage area, Rachel and Audrey orchestrated the creation of a perfect (if slightly sloped) dressage arena.

By the time Patricia and Lawrence turned up to pick up official course-building duties, the field had been transformed into an unmistakable showground. 17 fences (and 23 jumping efforts) later, there was the satisfaction of standing back for a few precious seconds of dusk to admire the work and look forward with intrepidation to the big day on Sunday.

Pictured below: Hard labour on a beautiful evening.