Endurance GB Confirms International FEI Ride Programme for 2021
- Four venues currently set to host nine days of FEI competition subject to Covid measures
- Hunt is on for fresh location for the Endurance GB Inter Regional Championships after local Forestry England Covid-19 restrictions force cancellation of King’s Forest Summer, previously planned as a selection ride for the European Championships
Endurance GB has confirmed four venues so far are set to host nine days of International FEI sport in England this summer. The FEI classes are currently planned for Euston Park 3*, Royal Windsor 2*, Revesby Park 3* and Lavenham 2*. A further venue, the popular King’s Summer event in Thetford Forest, Suffolk, scheduled to take place on 18-19 June has been cancelled after confirmation on Friday by the Thetford and Sandlings Forestry England Region that it would not be able to accommodate event bookings this summer due to pressures on the area as the country emerges from lockdown.
The Royal Windsor Ride is the first confirmed date for the resumption of international endurance which organisers H Power have announced will take place on the Friday 2nd July from its usual home in Windsor Great Park.
Euston Park in Suffolk is set to host three weekends of international competition and organiser Nick Brooks Ward confirmed these are pencilled in for 17th/18th July and 14th/15th August. Organisers have also said there are dates for 5th/ 6th June, however, as these as these are before the expected lifting of COVID measures they are currently working with Endurance GB and the DCMS to take advice as to what may or may not be possible to run on those dates.
A big entry is expected at Revesby Park in Lincolnshire in August, which is only in its second year having held its first ride in 2019..
Sponsored by Emerald Horse Feeds at a world class venue on the Revesby Estate, Revesby Park is set to see four days of competition with FEI, 1*, 2* and 3* classes at Young Rider and Senior level planned for Saturday 27th August.
The ride offers easy access from the A155 and takes in beautiful countryside over the rolling Lincolnshire Wolds with great riding over private estate land, fields and bridleways.
There will classes for all levels of rider, from 8km pleasure riders through to 160km international riders. The ride also sees the return of the popular ‘Team Spirit’ competition where teams of four ride 144km as a relay, and the ‘Pleasure Pairs’ class where pairs of pleasure riders aim to hit an optimum time.
Lavenham in Suffolk which stepped in last season to offer riders the chance to gain vital FEI qualifications for the World and European Championships, will again offer an International track over the weekend of 11th-12th September.
Endurance GB Chair Phil Nunnerley said:
While the loss of King’s Forest Summer is a blow, we are mindful of the fact that while organised outdoor sports events will be able to go ahead on forestry land in line with both the Forestry England and UK Government roadmaps, individual forests will be under unique pressures coming out of the Covid Pandemic, and we understand the need to be sensitive to these pressures as we resume our sport. We are pleased at this stage however that in England we will be working with organisers to be able to offer nine days of international competition this season. A new home will be found for the Inter Regional Championships scheduled for King’s Forest and will be supporting Rosemary Attfield the Chair of Endurance GB’s International Committee and her management team to ensure that preparation for the European Championships at Ermelo in September can continue smoothly despite the loss of King’s Forest as a selection ride.”
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.