Grassroots February Diary 2010
The main focus in February has been on
finalising the recruitment of the officials needed to run the new
Championships. The fence judges are now all on board, as are the
Control, Commentary and Emergency teams for the cross country;
because of the long course (long that is for the BE90 or BE100
level) and the fact that in the middle of the course is the Trade
Stand Village and Three Day Event main arena, Controller Richard
Clapham asked for duplicate emergency teams on the day – a team
consisting of Doctor, Ambulance, Vet, Fence Repair – so that a
quick response will be possible to all parts of the course. Chief
Show Jumping Steward Mike Walker visited the site and offices – he
is a veteran of the Jumping Judges’ Box at numerous Horse Trials in
the area, while at Badminton his normal role is as a Fence Judge –
which he and his wife Gill will continue to do.
The Stable Management team will be very
strong: we have James Lane Fox, whose family own Bramham Park where
the 3 star Three Day Event is run every June. He has also spent
several years as an assistant site manager here at Badminton, so he
really knows where to go to get things done! We also have Rachel
Morley, who has helped here on cross country day for countless
years and has just been appointed Press Officer for Chatsworth
Horse Trials; but probably more relevantly she was the Secretary
for Locko Park Horse Trials for all of its existence – Locko in
Derbyshire being the site of many great events and the Midland Bank
Championships, the precursor of todays British Open at
GAtcombe.
Wendy Evans who will be Entries Secretary also
visited and ran through all her requirements with Ollie Bush and
the Badminton office team. She won’t be able to be the Scorer on
the day, as she has that role for the Three Day Event, so Christine
Dale will deal with that side of the job with several assistants.
We had long discussions about the best method of transmitting
scores to and from the cross country and the fact that at the end
of the day we would need ‘instant’ results to give the top 10 in
each class time to get dressed and get their horse to the
International Main Arena for the prizegiving.
The track of the course has now been truly
finalised and many of the portable fences are in the Park and will
be positioned during March. The two courses (90 and 100) will be
the same length and indeed will have the same fence numbers and
fence sites, though the majority of the actual jumps will be
different, with just a few shared between the classes.
The supporting sponsors line up is now also
final (we think!) and we will be putting their names and roles onto
our Grassroots website shortly. In fact in the office we have been
discussing the website and what we need to put on it over the next
8 weeks – so if anyone out there has any particular wants in this
regard, let us know! We aim to beef up the Competition page – it
has the dressage tests but we will add a site layout and cross
country map; we will put up the Directions to the Event – which
will also go in the mail to all competitors in due course; and of
course very shortly it will have the link for online entries, which
open later in March.
As I write (on 5th March) the Beaufort Hunt are
in the village and the park on their last big day of the season –
tomorrow is the point to point and after that they traditionally
hunt away from this their home base. We took the precaution of
roping off the Grassroots dressage and show jumping arenas in case
the hunt gallop across The Slaits, the curiously titled field where
the Championships will be held!
The event feels quite close now and everyone
is looking forward to it – except we hear rumours that some of the
international riders are nervous about their horses’ reaction to
cross country whistles and loud speakers while they are preparing
for their dressage! Seriously we are trying to keep away from their
warm up areas but their horses will indeed need to be well
trained!