Brilliant Irish Pony Eventing team win European Bronze Medal and Ben Connors takes individual Silver

A fantastic performance from the GAIN Equine Nutrition Irish Pony Eventing team of Ben Connors, Caoimhe Crozier, Sarah Keane and Ted O’Leary has seen them take the team Bronze Medal following three days of intense competition at the FEI European Pony Championships in Strzegom, Poland.

It was an incredibly emotional weekend for the Irish team and manager Becky Cullen as they honoured their fellow team member Tiggy Hancock who tragically died following a fall from her pony when preparing for the Championships.

Ireland were in third place following a very strong performance in the opening Dressage phase and they strengthened their grip on a medal place with another impressive team display in the Cross Country. The Irish kept their composure in the final Show Jumping phase to finish on a final score of 132.3 to finish third overall and take home the Bronze medal. France won the Gold medal on 104.4 while Germany collected the Silver on 114.0.

An amazing performance from Ireland’s Ben Connors and the Connemara Pony stallion Cornafest Fred saw them claim the individual silver medal. They scored 30.3 in the opening Dressage and were faultless in Cross Country and Show Jumping to finish in second place on the podium.

Caoimhe Crozier and Kildromin Banjo (CP) also finished inside the top 10 taking 9th place, while Rachel Lucey and Woodfield Clover Joker finished 12th. All of the Irish competitors finished inside the top 30 including Grace Murtagh and Bruckless Elmar in 22nd, Sarah Keane and Lon Mac Liomhtha in 27th and Ted O’Leary with Rockon Pedro in 28th.

Horse Sport Ireland acting CEO Joe Reynolds said:

“I want to congratulate Becky Cullen and all her team on a fantastic performance to take the team Bronze medal at the European Championships. It has been a tough year for everyone involved and these young athletes showed great composure to perform brilliantly across all three phases of the competition. For Ben Connors to also take individual silver is another fantastic result and I want to thank our team sponsors GAIN and all the parents and coaches for their hard work to make this happen.”