Old faces in new eventing roles

Two high-profile insiders of the sport of eventing have been appointed to fill the positions of British Eventing Sports and Technical Manager and Director of Windsor Horse Trials this week.

Jonathan Clissolds has joined the BE team as their new Sports and Technical Manager. The role became vacant earlier this autumn when Tim Hadaway left the association.

Clissolds brings to the post vast experience, which he acquired both as a rider and as an official for the sport. He has been assistant clerk of the course at Burghley since 1991, a BE technical adviser since 1998, and has later become an FEI technical delegate. A member of the BE safety committee, he has been at the forefront of many safety initiatives and has been working closely with the Transport Research Laboratory on a study of eventing accidents.

“Having seen the sport out in the field at close quarters, I’m looking forward to being on the ‘inside’ at this vital time,” Clissolds says. “Tim was a friend and his position will be a hard one to fill but I am confident I can carry on where he left off in vital areas such as event viability and development, safety and the BE fixtures calendar.”

Clissolds will continue to serve as a technical adviser for BE and as international technical delegate but he will relinquish his role at Burghley.

In the second appointment of the week, Jonathan Warr will replace Mike Tucker as Director of Windsor International Horse Trial. As he had previously announced, Tucker stepped down from the position when he was elected Chairman of British Eventing.

The new appointment is a sign of continuity of the event because Warr has worked at Windsor for the last 10 years as course designer. He was part of the management team that launched the revamped fixture this year and devised the popular Team Challenge, where four teams of four riders each battled it out head-to-head in a “short-format” event with no road and tracks or steeplechase.

“Having been course designer at Windsor for 10 years, I am delighted to take on the challenging role of event director,” he says. “I would like to thank Mike Tucker for the sterling work he has done in setting up the ‘new’ Windsor and am looking forward to working on the exciting and innovative Team Challenge.”

Windsor International Horse Trials will run as a CCI** with steeplechase next year and it will take place from 26 to 29 May.

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