Savage Success - Clongowes Wood College

Posted: 4th September 2015

Last May Robbie Savage (then in Rudiments) and James Coonan (in Elements) rode to success on the Irish Tetrathlon Squad at the UK British Regional Competition in Moreton Morrell. Last month Robbie (pictured above) went back to the UK to compete in the Tetrathlon National and Five Nations’ Competition, where he won the junior competition outright riding ‘Higgins’ a horse owned by Charlie and James Coonan. Robbie was the highest scoring individual boy in the competition in Bishop Burton.

This is a significant achievement in itself but is pointed up even more when we consider that Robbie was not long back from two weeks in China (Beijing – with four other Clongowes boys) under the wing of Prefect Mr Garry Corcoran. While there Garry very kindly acted as trainer as well as guardian and managed to get Robbie to fit in some running whenever possible which obviously paid off. Not to be outdone, Robbie’s older brother Jack (now in Rhetoric – below) competed on the Irish Open Winning Team at the same event.

Jack

Tetrathlon is a team competition organised by Pony Clubs for its members and comprises four disciplines: shooting, swimming, cross-country riding andcross country running. Teams consist of four/five members from one pony club competing against teams from rival clubs. In Bishop Burton the competitors represented their countries in a Five Nations event where England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales compete over two days in a stern test of character and physical stamina.

Mr Declan O’Keeffe

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