The courses are set and the competitors will be rolling in tomorrow at the Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials
We’re not talking about the competitors in the CCI and CIC3* classes – they are already here and strutted their stuff on the runway today for the first horse inspection – we’re talking about the many hundreds of competitors in the Riding Club and Pony Club Team Eventer Challenges and the British Eventing Arena Eventing Championships taking place on Thursday and Friday
The 90cm and 100cm Riding Club and Pony Club Team Eventer Challenges, sponsored by Dodson & Horrell, are very popular events with amateur riders of all ages. The competitions take place in the large grass Bladon arenas, close to the Festival of Food marquee and many other food outlets, making it the perfect place for people to gather, eat lunch or grab a coffee and watch the teams go head to head
The Derby style competitions starts with a section of 8 - 10 show jumps leading to 6-8 efforts over portable and fixed cross country jumps and finishing over a show jump. The optimum time is based on a speed of 375m/minute and the team with the lowest cumulative score is the winner. There is also an award for the most stylish rider at each level – so the question is, do they go for team honour or individual style? Or can someone beat the clock and look amazing at the same time?
On Friday morning competition the British Eventing Arena Eventing Championship sponsored by Kent & Masters, which is open to both British Eventing members and non-members, is held at BE90 and BE100 levels. This Championship and the one held at Blair Castle are the culmination of a qualification series around the country and combinations qualify by accumulating points at qualifying venues from 1st January – 30th June 2016. The leading competitors from each league table plus the top three from the BE Jumping and Style final compete in each Championship; Victoria Whiteman riding Summer VII and Southerly Roberts riding Fizz were the top placed combinations in the BE90 and BE100 league tables that are competing here and must be hot favourites for the titles.
Molly Fletcher riding Motabower Katie won both the BE90 and BE100 JAS Finals – they are competing in the BE100 Arena Eventing Championship and again must be one to look out for
The ground is going to be great but these grass arenas have their challenges with undulations and gentle slopes to make things interesting
An Eventful Life will be videoing all competitors in the Arena Eventing competitions on Thursday 8th and Friday 9th September. Individual videos will be available from $60 (approximately £30) and can be ordered online on An Eventful Life from Thursday evening here
The winning team riders in each of the Team Eventer Challenges and the winning individuals in the BE Arena Eventing Championship will receive complimentary uploads of their videos
View the complete courses for the Riding Club Team Eventer Challenge BE90 and BE100 here
