Jo Hales riding DAWN CHORUS, 2nd in the Mitsubishi Motors Cup for BE100 during the Badminton Horse Trails between 1st - 5th May 2019 on the Badminton Estate near Bristol in Gloucestershire in the UK on 30th April 2019
This year’s grassroots championships at Badminton – the Science Supplements Cup – will be held in 2021 and British Eventing (BE) is planning to run a one-off under-19 championship next year.
These measures are part of a number of announcements around eventing championships in light of the current suspension of sport owing to Covid-19.
BE says is it continuing to monitor the situation regarding the 2021 regional finals and will update on plans for qualification for the 2021 championships as soon as possible.
In other news for grassroots riders, the Airowear 2019 BE80(T) championship was due to run at Norton Disney at the end of April, after two cancellations due to bad weather. BE says it is now “in discussions with both Burghley and Norton Disney about the rescheduling of this championship”.
The 2020 BE80(T) championships are currently scheduled to run at Burghley in September, but that will obviously be subject to review now.
Bishop Burton was due to run a youth championships from 24-26 July, including a young rider CCI2*-L and a junior CCI*-L, as well as under-18 classes at BE90open and BE100open. In conjunction with the venue and the youth programme personnel, BE has now made the “difficult decision” to cancel this championships, saying: “The period of lockdown and the uncertainty of when we will be able to recommence sport means that it is unlikely there will be sufficient time to run appropriate qualifiers and training to ensure that competitors are ready for their championships.”
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Those who would have been out of the under-18 category next year will have some recompense with BE promising, for one year only, an under-19 championships in 2021 “which we hope will provide those competitors disappointed this year [with] a chance to compete next year”.
The British pony championship due to run at Belsay from 28-30 May has also been cancelled, but discussions are taking place about alternatives.
Top riders Carl Hester, Charlotte Dujardin, Tom McEwen and Scott Brash are all involved
Meanwhile, BE reports that it is working closely with the team at Gatcombe, who remain committed to running the Magic Millions Festival of British Eventing (8-9 August) and “we are considering all options, including rescheduling, to enable this to happen”.
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
