Student riders rally at Dundalk for World Cup Finals
Riders from 16 countries will descend on Dundalk in Ireland on New Year’s Eve for the Student Riders’ Nations Cup (SRNC) World Finals 2009 (31 December-2 January).
The event will see 54 young riders, from countries including Egypt, Norway, Poland and the USA, competing in dressage and show jumping.
All will ride borrowed horses and the competition takes place at Ravensdale Lodge Equestrian Centre in Co Louth.
The British team includes 19-year-old Eilidh Middleton, from Finzean Aberdeenshire (pictured above).
Eilidh, who is studying management at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, said: “I am delighted to have been selected and feel honoured to be riding for my country in the world finals — the biggest competition I have competed in yet.”
Joining Eilidh on the British team are Jo Honey and Danni Jackson.
Irish team chef d’equipe Natalie Quinlivan, who is also part of the organising committee, said: “We are very excited at the prospect of hosting an event of this calibre and feel it is a great opportunity to promote Irish equestrianism and horses across the world.”
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The SRNC World Finals are supported by Horse Sport Ireland (HSI). HSI chairman Joe Walsh thanked everyone who was involved in the event, especially those who provided the horses for the competition.
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.