Eventing fans are ‘not the priority’ at Olympic test event

A limited number of eventing fans will attend the Olympic test event in Greenwich Park (4-6 July) as the British Equestrian Federation (BEF) has been allocated fewer than 4,000 tickets — and many of those will go to officials.

Of the 9,000 tickets available, organisers LOCOG have assigned just 3,700 to the equestrian community through the BEF. The remaining 5,300 will be split between local residents and Olympic officials.

Claire Shand of the BEF said: “Because this is not a spectator-driven event, our priority lies in getting the most out of the event for the teams.

“The member bodies [British Dressage, British Showjumping and British Eventing] are consulting with LOCOG and will be in charge of the allocation.”

The BEF and its member bodies must distribute the tickets among athletes and team staff before the public.

LOCOG has said it is important that Greenwich residents get to experience the test event, to allay fears of what will happen at the Olympics. Greenwich Council will distribute these tickets.

Council spokesman Fiona Stones said: “There has been a lot of interest from residents.”

The CIC** event will be run over some of the potential Olympic cross-country course and involve 50 competitors.

This news story was first published in Horse & Hound (17 March, 2011)

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