Welcome break for Molly and foal Maeve
Molly and Maeve have had about enough of Rachel's endless hammer throwing practice at this stage. It starts with a morning session at eight o'clock, winter and summer, hail, rain or snow. There are two more through the day, every day, and each time, the horses have to be moved into the next field where the grass is not quite so sweet. So mare and foal were delighted when Brian and Rachel climbed into the car a while ago and headed off to the women's All-Ireland Hammer competitions in Santry.
Rachel Akers is 17, five feet five inches, about ten stone in weight, a blonde slip of a schoolgirl, bubbly and engaging in manner, and there is no way you'd think she should be going to Dublin to compete in one of the most demanding disciplines, against bigger and older opposition. But she is, and she does, and she has collected a raft of medals this year in competitions at home and abroad. She's a speed merchant, you see, where the hammer is concerned.
