Following a superb year for Irish Show Jumping on the international stage at underage and senior level in 2017, a host of Ireland’s top athletes gathered at the Killashee House Hotel in Naas Co Kildare last weekend for the prestigious Irish Show Jumping Awards Gala. Bertram was honoured with two awards: The FEI Silver Badge of Honour and The Horse Sport Ireland Team of the Year Award together with the European Championship winning team.
Among the accolades given out on the night, 14 Irish riders were awarded prestigious ‘FEI Badges of Honour’ in recognition of their performances for Ireland on the international stage. Among them was Bertram Allen who together with Darragh Kenny received the Silver Badge of Honour.
Gold FEI Badges of Honour were awarded to seven Irish riders, with five riders receiving Bronze Badges. The FEI Badge recipients were congratulated via video message by FEI president Ingmar de Vos and were presented with their awards by Horse Sport Ireland CEO Ronan Murphy.
Depending on the number of appearances, Gold, Silver and Bronze Badges of Honour are awarded by The International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI), to riders who have competed in a Nations Cup, Olympic Games and The World Championships.
This is the first round of FEI Badges of Honour to be awarded since the establishment of Horse Sport Ireland and the National Federation is working closely with the FEI to uncover more athletes with the potential to acquire such coveted honours. A number of Irish Eventing and Dressage riders are also set to receive FEI Badges of Honour in the coming months.
The Horse Sport Ireland Team of the Year Award went to Ireland’s European Championship winning team, sponsored by Devenish and The Underwriting Exchange of Bertram Allen, Denis Lynch, Cian O’Connor, Shane Sweetnam and Mark McAuley.
READ MORE ABOUT FEI BADGES OF HONOURFEI Badges of Honour for Jumping are awarded to those athletes who have completed the first round of a Nations Cup, the Team and/or Individual Competition at the Olympic Games and the World and Senior Continental Team and/or Individual Championships, without retiring or being eliminated on the following scale:Gold Badge for completing 40 Nations Cup competitionsSilver Badge for completing 20 Nations Cup competitionsBronze Badge for completing 10 Nations Cup competitionsFEI Badges of Honour are also awarded to Athletes who complete Olympic Games, Continental Championships and World Championships to the following scale:Gold Badge for three completionsSilver Badge for two completionsBronze Badge for one completion