British Eventing (BE) has assured competitors that Chillington Hall will provide an event “worthy of a championship of this calibre”, as riders share disappointment after Defender Bramham stepped down as host of the BE80 national championships.
On 13 February BE announced that Bramham (5-8 June) will no longer host the BE80 championships, owing to viability issues. The competition will now take place at Chillington Hall’s fixture from 31 May to 1 June. BE’s Anyone Can Event (ACE) championships take place from 29 May to 1 June at Aintree International Equestrian Centre.
Riders have reacted to the news with disappointment. Among the concerns shared were the fact that competing at Bramham gave competitors the “prestigious” experience of an international event, the BE80 course at Bramham was a one-off and only for those who have qualified, and some had qualified horses for both the BE80 championships and the ACE final, which now clash.
Alison Knox, 54, told H&H she understands that BE is “not to blame” and she is “very grateful to Chillington” for stepping in – but that competing at Bramham had been her dream.
“I’ve been to watch at Bramham the last two years and I aspired to get there. It’s like a mini four-star event,” she said.
“As the final will be running alongside Chillington’s standard BE competition, I worry it will just get lost within that schedule and I feel it takes away a bit from what the championships will feel like. At Bramham you have qualified to be there and compete on that course.”
BE chief executive Rosie Williams told H&H “we fully appreciate the disappointment our members are feeling”.
“Bramham have been trying hard to find solutions to their viability concerns and have been in conversations with potential sponsors until just a few weeks ago, but sadly to no avail,” she said.
“This has meant BE has had to find a replacement venue very quickly, and with the huge costs and risks associated with putting on such an event in such a short space of time, we’re hugely grateful to Chillington Hall for stepping up.”
Ms Williams added that BE wants to “assure members that we looked into every avenue including holding the BE80 alongside the grassroots championships at Badminton, but unfortunately, it simply wasn’t viable”.
“The decision was either to not run the BE80 championships at all in 2025, disappointing all those who had worked so hard to qualify, or take up the very generous offer of Chillington Hall, ensuring that our members had a championships to attend,” she said.
“We also appreciate that the championships clash with ACE, but with very limited options available to us, we simply had no other choice.”
Ms Williams said that Chillington Hall is already planning and designing the BE80 championship course to “ensure that the course and the event itself is worthy of a championship of this calibre”.
“We are working really hard to bring value to our members but sometimes things are simply out of our control,” she said.
A Bramham spokesperson told H&H the team had been “extremely heartened to receive such a huge amount of feedback following the tough decision to give up the BE80 championship”.
“It’s clear that in just three years, we’ve built the championships into something very special which meant so much to the eventing community, which makes it all the more difficult,” she said.
She added that the team explored “every avenue” to carry on with the class, which it “loved hosting”.
“We were grateful that sponsorship helped us create a ‘mini Bramham’ but ultimately, we still had to financially subsidise the championship each year. We learned last November that a major sponsor had pulled out and with BE immediately set out to find a replacement to give the championships every chance of being viable,” she said.
“We had a potential new partner, and things were looking very positive, but sadly we just couldn’t get things over the line and at the end of January had to review the situation. We explored several options to give every chance of securing the championship, but time was becoming a factor, and we felt it was only fair to give BE adequate time to find a replacement.
The spokesperson said that the team are “extremely grateful to BE for enabling the championships to come to Bramham, but simply couldn’t run them without sponsorship or afford to subsidise them to such a level”.
“BE has been hugely supportive, and we’ve kept them up to date throughout our mission to make the class viable and retain it as part of the Bramham event but sadly, it just wasn’t to be,” she said.
“We know many will be disappointed, for which we are very sorry; we too are disappointed to lose such a fantastic class which we’ve truly enjoyed hosting. Thank you to the team at Chillington Hall who have stepped in, and we have every faith that they’ll deliver a special championship experience for all who qualify.”
Chillington Hall, Staffordshire, has previously held BE80 and BE90 U18 championships and regional championships, and hosts national classes from BE80 to novice.
Organiser Vicky Plant of Plant A Fence Events said the team is “very excited to have been given the responsibility of such a prestigious and popular championships”.
“Our long-term aspirations are to grow the venue as a replacement for Weston Park, building more features and growing the event to host prestigious competitions that this special venue deserves,” she said.
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