I was always moving, I don’t think I was ever going to be in the confines of a show jumping arena, I was much better suited to the adrenaline rush that goes hand-in-hand with cross-country. Growing up in pony club the obvious next step for me was minimus. A competition where you run, ride and swim, it was perfect for me.

I competed in minimus for four years, starting when I was eight years old. Once I completed that I moved up to tetrathlon, the same competition but on a larger scale, which also includes shooting.

Tetrathlon consists of four disciplines, each demanding different things. At junior level a 10m rifle shoot, a three minute swim a 1,500m run, along with riding a challenging cross country course. At senior level it consists of a 10m pistol shoot and a larger cross country course. Girls swim for three minutes and boys swim for four minutes. The girls’ run is 1,500m and the boys run is doubled to 3km. It is a test of athletic ability, consistency, focus and horsemanship.

Tetrathalon is the reason I have such a bond with my horse. I can ask my mare Cassie to jump on short strides at almost impossible angles over fences I wouldn’t usually dream of jumping.

It is a bond I formed with her over many experiences and a lot of time. In fact if not for tetrathlon I wouldn’t have met her, and wouldn’t have formed that much needed bond.

Holly and Lucy Hogan before they headed out cross country at the Senior Regional tetrathlon in Kelso, Scotland

Passion

I think tetrathlon is where my real pony club experience started. It’s where I was pushed to be better than I thought I could be and where I made friends across the country, from Donegal right down to Wexford. When you spend two hours in the pool and have to suffer through running training and then shooting afterwards, you form a certain bond with people, who like you, are there to just get better. We laugh and chat during the warm-up but once we cross the start-line we’re competing against each other.

Early Sunday morning trainings have been my usual for years now and Sunday morning trials when I’m up at six o’clock in the morning driving around back roads trying to find a field or swimming pool are strangely comforting.

Spending eight hours of your Sunday in a field is not quite as bad as it sounds when you’re busy, walking courses, pinning your number on and laughing with your friends.

As tetrathlon combines four disciplines, it’s four times the training and four times the dedication.

However, those trainings and trials cannot compare to the abroad trips. I have been to England twice with the junior squad, in 2017 and 2018 and to Scotland once for the senior regional, in August of last year. My favourite trip has to be the Scotland one.

This is essentially what all the early mornings, the endless training sessions and the long journeys came down to. The cross-country took place in Hendersyde Park and it was a beautiful course.

Natural and big, with a six-part water complex and 30 obstacles spread over the surrounding country. More than 80 athletes took part, from Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Everyone supported each other, it was the most memorable weekend of my life.

Friends for life

For me, these trips and trials and training sessions have allowed me to do what I love at a high level, with my closest friends. It has allowed me to achieve what I didn’t think I could and has showed me my great love of the sport, in each of its forms, and it all started at minimus.

Now due to Covid-19 the mid-June start date for minimus has been pushed back to the beginning of October.

Trials, training and trips are either cancelled or postponed indefinitely. The only thing still planning to go ahead as normal is the National Tetrathlon Championships, scheduled for the end of August. Although that is still in question.

The Government’s phased return to action plan gives little idea of when we can go back because with such a range of sports we don’t know.

So despite the lack of motivation, training continues at home – running, shooting and riding.

Training and school work seem to be the only things that remain certain.

In the absence of the transition year trips and activities we receive a continuous stream of assessments and tests towards a final grade.

Each weekend that passes I’m reminded of where I should be and who I should be with but instead I’m sitting home, hoping that this will end and I can do what I love, with the people who share the same passion for it.