Sydney Conley Elliott and Cisko A. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Great Meadow International is rolling out major changes in 2019. As they assume their new date, August 22-25, 2019, Great Meadow will no longer be included as a part of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup™ Series, but they have also opened up competition to even more levels.
Great Meadow will continue to run its premier CCI4*-S division (Formerly a CIC3*, now named under the FEI’s new Definition of Categories), but now also welcomes CCI3*-S (CIC2*) and CCI2*-S (CIC*) competitors.
After three years of hosting, a Nations Cup will not return to the U.S. in 2019. Event organizers cited the burden of transporting International horses to the states, but stressed that national competitors of many levels will now benefit from the world-class upgrades.
Great Meadow was introduced in The Plains, Va. by a shared effort between the Great Meadow Foundation and Five Rings Eventing, but going forward, Five Rings Eventing, which was founded by Darrin Mollett and David O’Connor, will organize independently.
“Hosting a leg of the FEI Nations Cup of Eventing at GMI definitely increased the bar for this level of competition in the mid-Atlantic region,” David O’Connor said.
“This new date puts the Great Meadow International at the start of the autumn season, making it a launching point for FEI competitors preparing for the CCI-L season. Also for 2019, competitors will see the results of significant investments made in the footing that began in the summer of 2018.”
The new event will have more than just horses: Five Rings Eventing plans to introduce even more activities for the whole family.
“We want to bring the community a fun fall festival with dog agility competitions, polo exhibitions, live entertainment, and a beer garden. There will just happen to be a high-performance eventing competition happening at the same time,” Darrin Mollett said.
