British Dressage News

Great Britain Aiming To Host the 2009 European Championships

June 21, 2006

The British Equestrian Federation (BEF) has shown its intent to host the 2009 European Dressage and Show Jumping Championships and three locations are in the running to become the official venue.

The H Power Group, Unex Towerlands and Hartpury College have reached the final round of the BEF’s selection process for its bid to host a joint European Dressage and Showjumping Championships in 2009. These three groups made outstanding tender presentations to the BEF on 15 June and have accepted invitations to prepare business plans for a final round to choose a venue later in July.

“It has been extremely encouraging to see the number of equestrian event organisers with the skill and ambition required to run European Championships in this country,” said BEF Chairman Hugh Thomas.

He added: “We need to maintain Great Britain’s impressive international reputation by planning ahead, identifying future opportunities such as this where we can showcase our event organisation skills. I am sure that a joint Dressage and Show Jumping European Championship at any of these three venues would be absolutely fantastic, and I am hoping that the FEI agrees with our final choice. ”

The BEF is planning to submit its bid to the FEI on behalf of British Dressage and the British Show Jumping Association by the deadline of 1 September. The decision about which country’s bid will be successful in hosting the 2009 Championships will be taken later this year by the FEI.

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