Photo by Thomas Ix, courtesy of Luhmühlen.
Longines Luhmühlen … alliteration on point! Today the German four-star fixture (soon to be CCI5*-L when the 2019 FEI rule changes kick in) has announced the luxury watch brand Longines as its new Title Sponsor, as well as the Title Sponsor of the 2019 FEI Eventing European Championships which will be hosted by the venue in August.
Longines has been one of Luhmühlen’s main Partners and the event’s Official Timepiece since 2014.
“We are immensely proud of this new contract and the ongoing and increased partnership with Longines for this very special year ahead of us and more years to come and are looking forward to making these two events truly exceptional,” says Luhmühlen’s event director Julia Otto. “Longines has been supporting equestrian sports thanks to its important timekeeping know-how. Their engagement is helping us to develop the event further every year.”
Lühmuhlen will be the third event to feature the newly categorized FEI CCI5*-L (Long, indicating the distance of the cross country course) level, following Kentucky in April in Badminton in May. The event’s former CIC3* will be reclassified as a CCI4*-S (Short).
“The requirements for a five-star-competition will be adjusted, mainly in prize money, and we are looking forward to fulfilling those in Luhmühlen with the strength of Longines partnership,” says Julia.
The classic event including the German Championships will take place June 13-16, 2019. Luhmühlen will then stage the Longines FEI Eventing European Championships Aug. 28-Sept. 1, its sixth time doing so (1975, 1979, 1987, 1999 and 2011).
“After Blair Castle in 2015 and Strzegom in 2017, it is a great pleasure for our brand to even further reinforce its partnership with eventing in becoming the Title Partner and Official Timekeeper of the 2019 Longines FEI Eventing European Championships and the Longines Luhmühlen Horse Trials,” says Juan-Carlos Capelli, Longines Vice President and Head of International Marketing. “We are proud to lend our support to these two major competitions, in a discipline which requires both the horses to be extremely versatile and the riders to have exceptional skills. In addition, this discipline illustrates values of our brand as it combines elegance of dressage, precision of show jumping, speed and courage of cross country.”
