Congratulations to the Scottish teams on their wins - but Ulster riders Sancha Talbot and her horse Calypso won the Celtic Challenge Young Rider Award and Jenni Cunningham  with Kilgarry Breezer won the Home International Junior Rider award. Full report, pictures and results will be available form ride reports soon.

Pictured are Jane Bruce on Holy Smoke, Hanna Catterall or Holy's Dream Flight and Sanch Talbot on Calypso before the start of there 1st days 25 mile ride.

The lorry with the horses from Leinster has arrived for an overnight in Portadown before being joined by the Ulster hores for an early departure to catch the 7:30am boat to Scotland.

The convoy will travel up through Scotland tomorrow (Wed) to arrive in Forres, (East of Inverness) sometine early eveing. Some team members and their families and crews are camping and others are staying in local B&Bs.

The 1st day of competition is Saturday with the longer distance,2 day, events kicking things off.  Later on Saturday and on Sunday the rest of the rides, ranging from a 50 mile race to 25 mile CTRs will all be run out and around the countryside taking in many local estates, several forests and old railway tracks.

We wish the Irish team sucess and will hopefully welcome them home next Monday night having retained there trophies.

Ulster rider, Helen McFarland, enjoyed a successful trip to Britain recently.   At Scone, just north of Perth and the historic crowning venue for Scottish kings, her 15 year old part bred arab gelding J St Jake retained his title as Scottish Open Champion when he won the 2 day 160km (100 mile) race on 17th/18th July.   Jake rode with Highland rider Lorna Templeton's Redarn Connon up to vet gate 4, but a quicker presentation by 7 minutes allowed Jake to establish an impressive lead, and he pushed on to a comfortable victory over the Arab x Highland, in what was Connon's first 160km race completion.  Jake's final speed was 13.3 kph (8.3 mph)

The following week Helen travelled south and won the 92km (57 mile) race at the Lindum Endurance Festival in Lincolnshire on her home bred 8 year old part bred arab Just C'mall.   This race was a much more tense affair, with C'mall 9 minutes behind at the final vet gate, catching Yorkshire rider Tracy Thompson on Crystal Jobaar about 2 kms from the finish, and eventually winning by a short head after a thrilling racing finish at Market Rasen racecourse.   The speed of 14.9 kph (9.3 mph) was the fastest recorded for the event which took place over the Lincolnshire Wolds.

Due to circumstances beyond our control we have had to amend a couple of ride dates and venues - see the calendar to get all up to date information.

12th September we are returning to Shane's Castle for a 2nd ride this year and on 10th October a second trip will be made to Knockmany. Both are popular venues and the return to Shane's Castle allows another great opportunity for Pony Club members to try their first ride as it is quite flat and riders can be accompanied on a bike.

Please updayte you diary and let any friends who may be interested know.

All details on web calendar.

The page can be accessed by navigating to www.enduranceridingireland.com/mobile/ on yoru phone or mobile device.

If you have suggstions or ideas of pages or inmformation that can be included on either the main web site of on the mobile one do let us know by filling in the contact form and selecting ILDRA as the Region.

Also the Castleward ride scheduled for 10th October is now off as contractors will be working on the tracks creating a trail ride. Again a new venue is being sought so watch this space and the calendar from more information.

The selection committee and the new Chef d’Equipe have announced the teams that will represent Ireland at the forthcoming Home International and Celtic Challenge Endurance competition being held at Burgie, near Inverness, Scotland on the weekend of 28th and 29th August.

The teams are as follows:

Home International Team
Helen McFarland - Just C'mall - 1 x 160km (100miles) 2 day
Thomas Roche - Mister Flint- 1 x 120km (75 miles) 2 day
Larry O’Neill - Bluebell - 1 x 80km ER (50 miles)
Jane Bruce - Holy Smoke - 1 x 80km (50 miles) 2 day
Jenni Cunningham - Killgarry Breezer - 1 x 48km (30 miles) Junior
Tasha Anderson - Heathpool Zeno - 1 x 40km (25 miles) Novice

Celtic Challenge Team
Robyn Catterall - Ellanora - 1 x 160km (100 miles) 2 day
Kate Russel - Spike - 1 x 80km ER (50 miles)
Sancha Talbot - Calypso - 1 x 80km (50 miles) 2 day
Hannah Catterall - Holly - 1 x 80km (50miles) 2 day Junior
Brona Kearney - Charmer - 1 x 48km (30 miles)
Edward Allen - Pepperjack - 1 x 40km (25 miles) Novice

Congratulations to all those selected and lets hope for the successfully retention of both trophies after the huge success of 2010. - No pressure then.....

There is a full team profile here.

ILDRA Show – 10am

Class 1 - Arab – Open to Arab any age, to be shown in-hand

Class 2 – Part Bred Arab – Open to all Part Bred Arab, any age, to be shown in-hand

Class 3 – Sport Horse – Open to Sport Horses, any age, to be shown in-hand

Class 4 – Mountain and Moorland – Open to Mountain and Moorland ponies in their respective pure bred Breed Societies of Dartmoor, Exmoor, Shetland, Welsh Sect A & B, Connemara, Dales, Fell and Highland. To be shown in-hand

Class 5 – Irish Draught – Open to Irish Draught, any age, to be shown in-hand

CTRs and Pleasure rides will start from 12.30pm

Race Ride – This will be a distance of 10miles and all horses are to be vetted before and after. The race will start at 1pm. Open to all rides with a special category for Non-Members.

Then on Saturday evening: BBQ – Tickets 10euros. 7.30pm at Hunting Lodge situated beside Moat Farm Campsite.

Schedule of events for Sun 18^th July 10

8am – Vetting will start for 80km ER.

8:30am – Mass Start for ER

All further vetting for CTRs will be from 8:30am.

All Ctrs to be on course by 11am.

Pleasure Riders must be out before 1pm.

Prize Giving will be approx 4.30pm

Note:- Entries can be made prior to the event for both days, but will be accepted on the day. Anyone wishing to pre-enter send to Kirsten Conly, 136 Navanfort Road, Armagh, BT60 4PX or phone 07957439569.

The show will host 22, in hand and ridden, Pure and Part Bred Arab Classes, commencing at 10.30am. There will be a championship for each category.

The show, the first of its kind in Ireland, has already been well supported with entries and enquiries, including a number of breeders from the U.K. Full details including entry forms are available on the website www.tanzanitearabians.com.

This event is not been run by ILDRA but is included here as many of our members and followers ride Arabs and it may be of interest to them.

Also we are holding a festival on the 17th and 18th of July. To make this a big success we need help. So any help which people are able to give us on these days would be great.

Helen and Jake, along with two other competitors, received ‘silver’ awards and the remaining competitors took bronze or completion awards. The attrition rate was high, with 50% of the 100 mile class eliminated through lameness, metabolics or injury and no completions in the 75 mile class.

Just select the Ride Report menu item to see the most recent reports, select your region from the menu to only see the most recent reports from your area.

For older rides you can still go the the calendar and select the report from the link.

We are always looking for ways to improve the site and suggestions are welcome - email your thoughts to info@enduranceridingireland.com.

The Race that will be held on the:

18th April Kinnity

2nd May Oldcourt

6th June Castleruddery

18th July Donard Festival

ILDRA are hosting Pony Club rides at a number of there events throughout 2010, details are and will be available on the Calendar on this web site. Initially Merlin and Kestrel rides will be held at Shane's Castle on 28th Mar and Florencecourt on 11th April.

Members of ILDRA are also able to assit running dis-mounted rallies for Pony Clubs - to find out more pony club organisers should contact David Cunningham on 028 9751 1294 or by email.

The Pony Club championships are being held on Sunday 19th September in Bedfordshire this year- see Calendar for details.

ILDRA, on the back of the great success achieved in 2009, have been invited to put on a display of Endurance Riding at this year’s Balmoral Show.

Thursday afternoon will see a 30 minute presentation in the main arena at the show. It will feature many elements of Endurance riding from starts, crewing, vet gates and a race finish all with comprehensive commentary explaining what is happening.

Supporting this display will be a stand where anyone interested in finding out more about Endurance Riding can pop in for a chat with members of ILDRA and representatives from the winning 2009 teams.

"This is a great opportunity to open Endurance to a wider population of horse lovers, many who may never have heard about this growing sport. They will be able to find out more and to see if they would like to give it a go." said a spokesperson for ILDRA.

The display is from 3:30pm - 4:00pm on Thur 13th May.
The stand is located beside the Grandstand in front of the Arena.

Do pop along and visit us when you are at the show.

Quailfying and selection dates changed to 30th June and 1st July

Would you like to be a member of a team representing your country in the sport of endurance riding?  Each year ILDRA sends two Irish teams made up of riders from both the north and south of Ireland to compete on their behalf in Scotland, England or Wales.  One team competes in the “Celtic Challenge” competition and the other team competes in the “Home International”.  Each team is made up of a lot of different levels of endurance riders.

The teams have had various levels of success, but have always had good fun.

Click here to download full criteria and information sheet - and watch this space for more information

Why not mark your diary up now.

Rides are organised in many forest parks and other locations around Ireland and non-members are welcome to take part in pleasure rides at most of the events.

Why not join our Facebook Group for regular updates and reminders of rides. Click the link in the right hand side of most pages on this site to join

Adult Member - £6.00

Adult Non-Member - £12.00

Junior Member - £6.00

Junior Non-Member - £6.00

This represents a small rise of only £1 for Members and Juniors and £2 for Adult Non-Members.

Please see the Calendar for a full list of 2010 planned rides and check back regulary for any changes or additions. You can also join our face book page to recieve regular ride reminders and information about last minute changes to any rides - just click on the link on the left of the page.

For a full list of winners click here

Dragons Egg 2 x40km CRs (2 x 25 miles) - Runner up Jenni Cunningham on Kilgarry Breezer.

Jenni also won the Cambrian Challenge Trophy for Top Novice pairing and completed both CRs with a Grade 1 finish.

Watch this space and check out the ride report from the calendar for more results a full write up and photos .

Picture: Robyn, Thomas and Jenni with their spoils.

Can you help?

If you get enjoyment form our sport this is a great way to oput something back into it again. Get in touch with Kirsten to check out available dates.

Don't be daunted about orgainising your first ride - there will be plenty of help to ensure all goes smoothly.

After 7 years of being Chef d’Equipe for the Home International Team Larry O'Neill is stepping down from the position.

Larry will be sorely missed as Chef d’Equipe and will be a truly hard act to follow. The success of the Irish team this year at Ludlow, when they won both the Home International and Celtic challenge  trophies under his leadership, is a fitting tribute to mark the end of his term as team Chef.

The ILDRA AGM and Dinner will take place in Dublin Sat 21st Nov 2009 at the City North Hotel.

Don't forget to get your nominations for Trophies in, see Awards section of this web site, by 21st October.

The AGM meeting will take place at 5pm with the dinner, followed by the awards ceremony, at 7:30.

This year dress for the dinner is formal (suits and dresses, black tie optional) with prizes for the best dressed male, female and teenager. The meal is from the Christmas menu and will cost €35 per person.

see calendar for more details.

There will be a lorry available for taking competitors to Wales. There are only 8 places in lorry which will be travelling from Donard, Co.Wicklow.

Any rider interested please contact Kathy Conly on 028 3752 4809 or by e-mail kkathycon@aol.com

The team pictures can be found at the bottom of the home page.

Jane Stanley, Robyn Catterall, Helen McFarland, Carmel Quinn, Aisling Byrnes, Kate Russell, Allison Sloan, Hannah Catterall, Cora Roche, Thomas Roche, Judith Hyndman, Jenni Cunningham and Brona Kearney.

From Newry/Banbridge direction Travel on A1 dual carriage bypassing Banbridge.; At the last entrance to Banbridge from Newry (Dromore Rd) on left where there are currently major road works taking place move into the fast lane and take next exit right (crossing the carriageway) onto Waringsford Road.; Remain on this road for approx. 3-4 miles; Turning left onto Gall Bog road; Follow this road straight to the end; Take left onto Diamond Road; Drive straight for approx 1 mile; Take first left after row of terraced houses into Diamond View Rd; Venue is first farm on left (yellow lion on pillars)

Topics covered will include training and fitness, crewing, vetting and post ride recovery. This will be an ideal opportunity to ask all those questions you were too shy to raise at a ride! We also hope to run a ‘Bring and Buy Sale’ (equestrian items only) at the Training Evening, so start Spring Cleaning now! All items should be clean and in good condition. Proceeds to charity.