British Dressage would like to inform our members that affiliated competitions organised by REC Events will no longer be taking place at Richmond Equestrian Centre, North Yorkshire. This decision has not been taken lightly and was in made with agreement with BD and Sue Foster of REC Events.
Paul Graham, BD Sports Operations Manager commented; “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Sue and Mike Foster of REC Events for their hard work, dedication and support of dressage over the last six years. Richmond as a venue has been a valuable asset to the Northern Region and we’re obviously disappointed to lose it from the calendar. I will work closely with Sarah Huntridge, Northern RDO, to try and ensure members have plenty of competition opportunity in the area.”
BD understands that members will be concerned about the provision of competition opportunities in the local area. With the help of other organisers, as an interim solution, a number of the fixtures due to run at Richmond from March through to May have now been re allocated to other venues.
Please see the list below for the new venues:
25 March – Northallerton EC (original REC schedule will remain)
30 March – Holmside Hall (original own schedule plus two medium and an advanced medium classes have been added)
11 April – Northumberland College (original REC schedule will remain, however will amalgamate this with their show due to run on 5 April which will now be cancelled).
21 April - Northallerton EC (original REC schedule will remain)
03 May – Holmside Hall (original REC schedule will remain)
The office team are in the process of updating the effected fixtures’ schedules on line – www.britishdressage.co.uk. All other dates due to run at REC have been cancelled.
The Petplan Equine Area Festival due to be held at Richmond will now be hosted by Northallerton on the same date, 5 – 7 September.
There are still a large number of competitions taking place in the Northern region up till the end of May so BD are confident there’s enough opportunity for those seeking to qualify.
Looking ahead, the BD Rules and Fixtures Committee will be reviewing all the options available at their March meeting to ensure that the levels of BD competitions in this area are maintained.