IRELAND played host to the Student Riders’ Nations’ Cup (SRNC) World Finals 2009 at Ravensdale Lodge Equestrian Centre in Dundalk, Co. Louth, at the weekend, and the home nation took third place in the combined team competition and second in team show jumping.
However, the three days of competition also confirmed Ireland as the overall winner of the World Final Show Jumping Cup for 2009, and the 2009 President's Cup for combined results.
The four round, knock-out competition at Dundalk, which included both dressage and show jumping, saw Britain take the winner's laurels in the combined section, with Belgium in second place. In team show jumping, Belgium was first and Luxembourg third, while in team dressage Britain was again first.
Natalie Quinlivan, Chef d’Equipe of the Irish Team, member of the organising committee and secretary of IURCA (Irish Universities Riding Clubs Association) said afterwards: "It was a brilliant weekend and I'd like to thank all our sponsors and especially those competitors who travelled from all over the world to take part. It was an added bonus to win both cups. We thought we'd take the President's Cup, but it was terrific to win the Show Jumping Cup as well."
Natalie herself won the National Accumulator Class.
The individual show jumping winner was Elodie Weber from Luxembourg, with Ans van Oort from the Netherlands as runner-up and Ireland's Nicola FitzGibbon in third.
The Dressage competition saw Friederike Haas from Germany take first place, with Britain's Joanna Honey in second, and Italy's Nicola Rossi in third.
The event was supported by Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) and saw 45 student riders from 15 nations travel to compete at the Connolly family’s Ravensdale Lodge on borrowed horses, some travelling from as far away as Egypt, Canada and the USA.
The World Finals were the final and fourth International Student Rider Nations Cup event of the year where the cups for dressage, show jumping and overall results were presented to the country who accumulated the most points throughout the 2009 competiton year.