Olympic medallist unable to appear at showjumping championships

OLYMPIC bronze medallist Cian O’Connor is set to be a no show at the Ennis Showgrounds after informing organisers of the Showjumping Ireland National Championships that he will not be attending the event in September.

 

Organisers of the prestigious event have expressed their disappointment that the showjumper will not be taking part in the championships running from Friday, September 7 to Sunday, September 9.
However, according to Mr O’Connor, his schedule is dictated by his horses and he does not believe he would have enough horse power to compete at the level of the national championships. He will be in New York on the dates of the competition.

A special sign welcoming the Meath-based rider to Ennis for the competition had been made in anticipation of his visit. There were also plans to make a special presentation to Mr O’Connor at the show.

A spokesperson for the Ennis Showgrounds explained, “We are disappointed that he is not coming. We had a special sign made to welcome him to Ennis, which has arrived. The president of Dubai Duty Free George Horan was planning on making a special presentation to him at the show.”

Speaking to The Clare Champion, Mr O’Connor, said, “We can’t just follow our heart, our plan is dictated by which horse we have to compete on that particular level and it just doesn’t fit into the schedule at the moment, unfortunately. Some of the horses had done a lot of jumping all season and the younger horses wouldn’t have done enough to jump the national championships. I will be doing a few smaller shows to build them up over the winter and in addition, I have a coaching engagement in New York that I’ve decided to take up.”
“I was looking forward to coming down to Ennis, I’ve been up and down there loads of times and the people are lovely. Of course, I would like to go but in my situation, I want to go and win, I don’t want to just go and make up the numbers. The main horses I have are on a break and the younger would be too inexperienced, it’s a case of horse power.

“I had a lot of coaching and clinic enquiries that I’ve been putting off and I thought that rather than being somewhere I can’t deliver the goods, I should take one of those up. Also I’m going to be in China for a horse show in Beijing so there is plenty happening and I’m trying to balance everything.”

Mr O’Connor offered to give a prize of coaching at his stables to the national championship. Organisers of the event have confirmed Mr O’Connor’s offer of coaching would be taken up as a prize.

Despite Mr O’Connor no longer being part of the championships, organisers assured there will still be plenty to draw the crowds to the Ennis Showgrounds.

Among the highlights will be ladies’ day on the Saturday, which will feature a best dressed ladies’ competition. “We are encouraging ladies to come out in style for ladies’ day. There will be a prize of €300 for the best dressed and also second and third prizes. Entries to the competition will be at 1pm, while judging will be at 3pm. This was a great success at last year’s competition and we are expecting that there will be a lot of interest in this,” said the spokesman. And it won’t just be the ladies who will be looking lovely. There will also be prizes for the ‘best turned out’ in every championship class.
“We have been absolutely delighted with the support we have gotten from our sponsors,” said the spokesperson.