UK Sports Resumption Update

PRESS RELEASE FROM BRITISH EVENTING:

As we head towards the date where we expect to receive information from the Government about how we will exit the current lockdown, we wanted to update you on BE’s plans for sport resumption.

We continue to work closely with our Organisers to ensure that we are providing all our members with optimum competition opportunities and we look forward to resuming sport as soon as possible. 

Fixtures planning
We were delighted to see so many members, both existing and new, entering events when the 2020 season resumed in July 2020. We again expect demand to be high and have factored this into our fixtures planning to ensure that we provide you with the competition opportunities that you need. 

Inevitably there are some Organisers who are understandably unable to commit to running their events under the current uncertainty. We are marking these events as cancelled on the fixtures list but will leave these events showing on the list so that it is clear which events have cancelled, and which are still intending to run.   We are working to fill any gaps left by these cancellations and we will update the calendar with the additions as soon as we have confirmation of when sport can restart. As with the restart last year, entries will not open until restrictions are lifted.

In response to concerns about balloting levels, we have adjusted our ‘additional day’ protocol to enable an Organiser to request an additional day of competition earlier where entries levels are high. In order to help us with this, please do make your entries in good time as we will only add days where entries are high prior to ballot date.

We also know that moving whole classes to a different day at short notice caused problems for you last year and we will be working with Organisers to minimise this, where possible, as we restart.

It is likely that the restrictions will be lifted in a different way across Scotland and Wales and we continue to work closely with the BE Scotland Committee and other stakeholders to ensure that we can restart activity as soon as we are permitted to in each region.

Training and alternative formats
We expect that we may exit lockdown into a Tier system again.  We are keen to provide you with opportunities to get out and have fun with your horses as soon as possible – within what is permitted – and to get you ready for when we can start the competitive season.

We are, therefore, working on two alternative formats – Train for Eventing and Try Eventing.  Train for Eventing will be run over two phases, show jumping and cross country, and will provide you with an opportunity to hone your skills in a training environment at BE venues.  Try Eventing will run all three phases.  Both will run as training and will be available at a discounted rate to BE members. More details to follow soon!

Help us help you!
We understand that you may not want to purchase your horse season ticket until you are ready to make your first entry. However, if you have new horses to register, you can do this ahead of time (it’s free) without needing to purchase a Horse Season Ticket for them.  This means we can do the necessary passport checks and have the horse details set up and ready for when you do want to get going.   

Not only does this mean the process will be quicker for you, but it also enables the BE team to handle the registrations more efficiently behind the scenes and not create the backlog which occurs if everyone leaves it until the last minute.

Badminton and Olympic preparation
Whilst the timescales and roadmap for coming out of lockdown are not yet known, with Badminton due to take place in early May, we are exploring all opportunities to ensure that elite combinations are fit and ready to run.   We are working with Performance Manager and our Organisers to identify and provide the right training and competition opportunities needed as the pathway to Badminton, ensuring that we are safe and compliant within all government requirements.