Eventing Senior Squad Named for European Championships

Team Ireland Equestrian Eventing High Performance Manger Ginny Elliot has today (Tuesday) named the Irish squad for the European Eventing Championships which will take place in Luhmuhlen in Germany from August 25th to 29th, and which will determine Olympic qualification.

The squad in alphabetical order is:

• Capt Geoff Curran; The Jump Jet (Owner: Minister for Defence and Maurice Cassidy)
• Jayne Doherty; The Only One (Owner: Team Rutledge Recruitment & Training) or Ravenstar (Owner: Team Rutledge Recruitment & Training)
• Mark Kyle; Coolio (Owner: Ronnie Bartlett)
• Joseph Murphy; Electric Cruise (Owner: Noel Good & Jill Andrews)
• Camilla Speirs; Portersize Just a Jiff (Owner: Bridget & Camilla Speirs)
• Sam Watson; Horseware Bushman (Owner: John & Julia Watson & Tom MacGuinness)
• Elizabeth Power; Kilpatrick River (Owner: Dermot O'Rourke) - Reserve

Four of the six selected combinations will make up the team for the championships, with the other two riders competing as individuals.Speaking after the announcement High Performance Manager Ginny Elliot said that the selection was a good mix of experienced and new combinations, with two riders, Jayne Doherty and Joseph Murphy, making their debuts.

"Unfortunately we lost Aoife Clark's horse Master Crusoe to a slight injury which came just at the wrong time but overall I am very happy with the six combinations and reserve I have named today," she said. The Irish team must finish at Luhmuhlen in the top two amongst those European countries not already qualified in order to qualify for the Olympic Games.

The European countries qualified already are Great Britain, Germany and Belguim. "We missed qualification very narrowly in Kentucky but the riders have been working very hard to achieve further improvement since then and they are determined to secure a place at the games," Ginny Elliot said.