Heidi Coy and Russal Z. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Great news for British-based eventers: just one week ahead of the start of the 2023 season, British Eventing has announced the addition of several events to the calendar, giving riders across the country even more opportunities to enjoy their sport of choice. Here’s what’s been added:
South East – Regional Championships
The South East region will now see a Regional Championship scheduled to take place on 12 & 13 August 2023 at Blindley Heath, Lingfield. This will give members an additional Regional Championship to aim for alongside the five that are already scheduled. Qualification to compete at the Regional Championships is achievable for many with two double clears required during the qualifying period. The top 10% finishers will then pick up the highly coveted qualification tickets for the NAF Five Star BE80 Championships at Bramham and the Voltaire Design Grassroots Championships at Badminton at BE90 & BE100 level. As well as the Regional Championship pathway there will also be the opportunity to qualify directly from the OBP Grassroots Leagues. Further information on the Regional Championships and all they have to offer can be found here.
Little Gatcombe
The highly popular event that was known as ‘Little Gatcombe’ is back in the calendar with two dates for 2023. The first of the two will run on the weekend of 17 & 18 June 2023 and the second on the weekend of 16 & 17 September 2023. Classes on offer span BE80, BE90 and BE100. We know this will be an extremely welcome fixture back in the BE calendar and we are delighted to be able to offer these two dates to the membership once again giving them the opportunity to compete at such a prestigious venue.
Oxstalls
We will now see Oxstalls, Gloucestershire running on the weekend of 15 & 16 April which will replace Ascott-Under-Wychwood (1) which has unfortunately had to cancel. However, Ascott-Under-Wychwood (2) will go ahead as scheduled on 3 & 4 June 2023. Moving the fixture to Oxstalls will see the same classes run at BE80, BE90 & BE100 level alongside Under 18 classes at each of these levels. In addition, Oxstalls will be running a BE105 class as well as GoBE classes at 80, 90 & 100 level.
“We welcome Little Gatcombe back into the BE calendar and know that this will be well received by our members,” says Helen West, Chief Executive for British Eventing. “We are confident that Charles Etherington-Smith and his team will deliver a gold standard product for our membership to benefit from, which will initially be at the BE80, BE90 and BE100 levels, but looking to the future, we know the site has the capacity to run at higher levels also.
“Blindley Heath was a new site in 2022 and proved very popular with the South East membership. BE have listened to feedback received from the membership about the geographical spread of Regional Championships and, having gone out inviting expressions of interest to host a Southeast Regional Championships, are thrilled to announce this addition which we hope will be welcomed by the membership.”
To visit the 2023 fixtures calendar, click here.
