Area 22 Horse Trials clash with Scotsburn - THOUGHTS??

[Bloggso]

This year the Area 22 HT Quals are planned for 26th May @ Auchlishie on the same weekend as British Eventing HT at Scotsburn.

Scotsburn runs classes from BE80-Novice, so is aimed at riders competing at a similar level to the BRC HT Championships and they are the first event in 2012 planning to run a BE80(T) class in Scotland.

Last year Fife sent two teams of riders to Brechin for the Novice (90cm) class in the Area 22 HT – where we secured 1st & 3rd place in the team placings (as well as a number of individual placings). The Area 22 HT ran on the same weekend as Floors Castle HT, which runs classes from BE100 upwards so doesn't cater for riders competing under 1m.

The Scottish Eventing calendar is fairly sparse in comparison to the South of England and riders often travel long distances to compete, so any date in the BE calendar is eagerly awaited by event riders in the North. The following 2 weekends after the 26th May have NO Scottish events running, the closest event is @ Hexham in Northumberland (2-3rd June), then Cumwhinton near Carlisle, the following weekend. Riders who want to represent their club at BRC Horse Trials are often the same riders who have paid their subscriptions to affiliate to compete with British Eventing. Should these riders in Scotland be forced to choose between 2 events when there is clearly space in the calendar for them not to clash?

Surely the best option for both event organisers is to run on separate weekends so they can maximise entries and guarantee availability of judges & volunteers.

What are your thoughts??

[Kim]

I agree with Sarah. I was considering doing both of these competition this year but obviously now going to have to pick between them. Would have thought it would drastically reduce the number of competitors at the Riding Club HT as would imagine most people would choose to do the BE especially if they are already affilliated.

[trigger]

Scotsburn will have little option on dates. BE Calender is finalised late in the previous year. The reality is Area would have to change. Indeed I would have thought Area would have checked the BE calender before finalising their date

[Bloggso]

Exactly, the Area 22 HT could have been an addition to the Scottish eventing calender, instead riders will be forced to choose and Scotsburn entries could be negatively impacted. Even more of a pity as Scotsburn is the earliest event in the year to run a BE80(T) class which is targeted at BRC members!!

[trigger]

Get the club committee to take it up with area. It's not too late for Area to change the date. In future get Area to check the Ecenting calender before they fix a date